Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To evaluate fluorescein angiographic findings after an intravitreal injection of crystalline triamcinolone acetonide as treatment of clinically significant diffuse diabetic macular edema. Methods: The prospective non-randomized clinical interventional study included all 11 eyes (9 patients) who received an intravitreal injection of 20 to 25 mg crystalline triamcinolone acetonide as treatment of clinically significant diffuse diabetic macular edema, and for whom fluorescein angiograms were available at baseline of the study and after an follow-up time of at least 4 weeks. Mean follow-up time was 6.7 ± 2.6 weeks (range, 4 weeks - 3 months). We evaluated and compared fluorescein angiograms taken at baseline of the study and taken 4 to 12 weeks after the injection. Results: After the injection, area of dye leakage on the fluorescein angiograms decreased significantly (p<0.001; Wilcoxon-test) from 34.3 ± 12.5 mm2 preoperatively to 28,7 ± 14,0 mm2 postoperatively. Correspondingly, if the preoperative angiograms and the postoperative angiograms of the same eye were mixed and were compared with each other in a masked fashion. An improvement was found in 9 eyes (81,8%), and in 2 eyes (18,2%) the postoperative angiogram was considered to be worse than the preoperative angiogram. Parallel to the decrease in fluorescein leakage, visual acuity increased significantly (p=0.003) from 0.11 ± 0.08 at baseline of the study to 0.19 ± 0.14 at the end of the study. Conclusions: Intravitreal injection of 20-25 mg crystalline triamcinolone acetonide may be beneficial for temporarily decreasing fluorescein leakage, reducing the degree of macular edema, and correspondingly, increasing visual acuity, in patients with diffuse diabetic macular edema.
Keywords: 377 corticosteroids • 432 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)