TITLE:
Discrete Event Simulation to Evaluate Different Treatments of Diabetic Retinopathy Disease
AUTHORS:
Salma Kanoun, Badreddine Jerbi, Hichem Kamoun
KEYWORDS:
Diabetic Retinopathy, Modeling, Discrete Event Simulation, Health Care, ARENA Simulation Software
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Operations Research,
Vol.12 No.6,
November
24,
2022
ABSTRACT: Modeling approach using discrete event simulation has been proven to work
well in modeling in health care. The aim of our paper is to propose a simulation approach which shows realistic models
presenting different possible treatments
in different stages of diabetic retinopathy. We have presented three models in order to choose the best treatment for
diabetic retinopathy patients. The
first model describes the flow of a patient through stages without any medical
treatments. It takes 13 years to reach blindness. The second model which
includes the laser photocoagulation treatments leads to blindness after 46
years. Then, the third model illustrates the involvement of vitrectomy
operation and delays blindness by 23 years. To construct the models, data were
taken from experienced doctors and professors of the ophthalmology department
in the University hospital Habib Bourguiba and the endocrinology department in
the University hospital Hedi Chaker in Sfax, Tunisia. Our objective is to delay
reaching the blindness stage as late as possible. Three models were developed,
verified and validated through many iterative implementations with ARENA
simulation software.