Author(s)

Salma Kanoun¹, Badreddine Jerbi², Hichem Kamoun¹

¹Laboratory of Modeling and Optimization for Decisional, Industrial and Logistic Systems, College of Economic Sciences and Management, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
²Higher Institute of Management, Gabes, Tunisia, Detached to Quassim University, College of Business and Economics, Saudi Arabia.

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.

Diabetic Retinopathy, Modeling, Discrete Event Simulation, Health Care, ARENA Simulation Software

Kanoun, S. , Jerbi, B. and Kamoun, H. (2022) Discrete Event Simulation to Evaluate Different Treatments of Diabetic Retinopathy Disease. American Journal of Operations Research, 12, 250-260. doi: 10.4236/ajor.2022.126014.