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Triamcinolone well-tolerated after intravitreal injection, surgeon says
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ALBANY, N.Y. — Triamcinolone acetonide can maintain therapeutic levels in the eye for about 3 months after intravitreal injection and remains generally well-tolerated, according to one surgeon.
Sophie J. Bakri, MD, and associates here at the Lions Eye Institute included five eyes of five patients, all of whom were diagnosed with macular edema, in a study designed to explore the pharmacokinetics of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (TA). Four of the five eyes were pseudophakic. One eye had undergone vitrectomy 4 months before entering the trial.
“Both intraorbital and intravitreal triamcinolone have been used with no adequate scientific documentation of either the intraocular levels of drug achieved or the duration of action,” Dr. Bakri said.
The study’s protocol dictated the patients receive a single 4 mg TA injection for the treatment of retinal vascular disorders. No one received more than one injection. After injection, patients had their aqueous humor levels tested at 1, 3, 10, 17 and 31 days.
Visual acuity in all five eyes remained stable or improved after the TA injection, Dr. Bakri said. Aqueous concentrations of intravitreal TA decreased rapidly, she added.
“We found that in the four nonvitrectomized patients, the mean half-life [of intravitreal TA] was 18.7 days, and the duration of triamcinolone was found to be 93 days,” she said. “In the one vitrectomized patient, the duration of triamcinolone was significantly shorter at 15.8 days.”
For more information on the study and its results, read the Feb. 15, 2003, issue of Ocular Surgery News.