Treatment Outcomes of Suprachoroidal Triamcinolone Injection in Refractory Diabetic Macular Edema

Abstract

Purpose: To find out the outcomes of suprachoroidal Triamcinolone injection in refractory diabetic macular edema. Study Design: Quasi experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Al-Ehsan Eye Hospital, Lahore from Jan 2020 to 31st Dec 2020. Methods: Sixty-five patients with refractory diabetic macular edema were included. Patients underwent complete ocular history and examination. To document baseline macular edema, SD-OCT was done. The recruited patients received 0.1ml of suprachoroidal Triamcinolone injection (40mg/ml) using a 30 gauge syringe. Follow up was performed at one week, one month and third month after injection. At each follow up, best corrected visual acuity, central macular thickness and retinal nerve fiber thickness were documented. Data was analysed using SPSS version 36.0. Comparison of BCVA, central macular thickness and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) before and after injection was analyzed by paired sample t-test with p value of ≤ 0.05 as significant. Results: Out of 65 patients, 29 (44.62%) were females. Mean age of patients was 54 ± 8.4 years (range 40 to 80 years). Central macular thickness after suprachoroidal Triamcinolone injection changed from 556.2 ± 10.9 to 313.6 ± 7.2 ųm. Change in visual acuity was 0.9 ± 0.01 to 0.6 ± 0.02. Pre-treatment and post-treatment visual acuities demonstrated a substantial change after undergoing treatment along with decrease in central macular thickness with p value ˂ 0.001. Conclusion: Suprachoroidal Triamcinolone injection results in anatomical as well as functional improvement in diabetic patients with refractory macular edema.

Efficacy of Suprachoroidal Triamcinolone Acetonide Injection in the Treatment of Resistant Diabetic Macular Edema

“…Anti-VEGF is standard for managing DME; however, the need for more injections and high cost limits their use. Previous studies show that 9 to 11 injections are only needed in the first year, and almost 17 injections are required for five years (Haider et al, 2023;Zafar et al, 2021). SCTA is the new method for treating DME.…”