Abstract
Purpose::
To compare the efficacy and safety of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide injection (ivTA) for refractory clinical significant macular edema (CSME) using OCT and Microperimetry (MP-1) .
Methods::
eight patients (9 eyes), 5 female and 3 male, mean age 65.7±13.3, followed in the retinal department of the University "La Sapienza" of Rome with CSME in diabetic retinopathy were enrolled in our study after BVCA, tonometry, OCT and MP-1(Humphrey 10-2 program, Goldmann III stimuli, 4-2 strategy on 68 points). The treatment group received an intravitreal injection of approximately 15 mg of TA. Follow-up with OCT and MP-1 was done 3 months after the injection.
Results::
average retinal thickness was 541.40 µ ± 128.15 µ and average retinal sensitivity was 2.85 Db before the injection, after three months thickness decreased to 359.9 µ ± 158.73µ and the sensitivity increased to 3.41 Db. This value is statistically significant (p=0.0115). We noticed even in the fixation points (central 2°) a slight improvement from an average of 31.8% to 37.6%. We did not observe a significant increase in IOP after the injection.
Conclusions::
In the short-term, intravitreal injection of triamcinolone effectively reduces macular thickening due to diffuse diabetic macular edema and improves retinal sensitivity in our cases. A longer follow-up is requested to evaluate the long term effect of this treatment and the visual recovery. In our opinion MP-1 is more accurate for evaluating and monitoring improvement than BVCA and standard perimetry.
Keywords: retina • imaging/image analysis: clinical • diabetic retinopathy