Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Ozurdex, FDA approved sustained release dexamethasone intravitreal implant, on macular thickness post epiretinal membrane removal surgery. Macular thickening and edema are often associated with epi-retinal membranes and thought to contribute to symptoms of decreased visual acuity and metamorphopsia. Although vitrectomy with membrane peeling can often result in an improvement of both the retinal morphology and patient symptomatology in this condition, macular edema often persists after successful surgery with or without ILM removal and often leads to persistence of some symptoms
Methods:
Methods: IRB approval was obtained for this study. A prospective randomized six months clinical trial was performed with Ozurdex 0.7mg injections at various times (Early and late intervention) and stages of macular edema after ERM surgery in contrast to other current standard care such as Avastin 1.25mg, Lucentis 0.5mg, Triamcinalone (4mg), and topical steroids
Results:
Results: Thirty-three patients were followed monthly for six months. ETDRS visual acuity and ocular coherence tomography (OCT) imaging were obtained at each monthly visit. Analysis of the six months OCT data shows a trend with reduction in thickness, an average of 29μm change, 10 weeks following the injection of Ozurdex on the group treated at least 3 months after the peeling procedure. The control group, which received an average of one steroid injection during the six months trial, showed no improvement in thickness reduction or visual acuity. An average improvement of one line gain in visual acuity was recorded from the group that received late intervention (six months post surgery) with Ozurdex in the first two months following the injection. Early intervention with Ozurdex mostly stabilized the visual acuity, whereas late intervention resulted in an improvement
Conclusions:
Conclusions: Results of this study suggest a role for Ozurdex in ERM-associated macular edema inhibition; however, further study with lager sample size is required to confer statistical significance
Keywords: 762 vitreoretinal surgery