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Sustained low-dose steroid slows progression of diabetic retinopathy

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SAN FRANCISCO — A sustained low-dose intravitreal steroid delayed progression of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, according to a study presented at the American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting here.

Raymond Iezzi, MD , presented data culled from the FAME trials.

“This study demonstrated a significant delay in the progression of proliferative diabetic retinopathy in treated eyes compared with fellow eyes in patients, including those with chronic [diabetic macular edema], who received 0.2 µg per day of fluocinolone acetonide during the FAME trials,” Iezzi said. “Since individuals served as their own controls, this fellow eye analysis removes confounding systemic effects between individuals.”

The analysis included 184 patients who received 0.2 µg fluocinolone acetonide once daily and had matched baseline diabetic retinopathy severity scores in fellow eyes.

Progression from nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (DR) to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) was considered an event if progression was scored on fundus photo grading or if patients had operative reports of laser photocoagulation for PDR.

The time to the first PDR event was significantly delayed in treated eyes of patients who received 0.2 µg daily fluocinolone acetonide (P = .002).

The time to the first PDR event was significantly lower in treated eyes compared with fellow eyes among patients with a baseline DR grade of 47 to 53 (P < .022). The time to the first PDR event was also lower in patients with capillary loss at baseline (P = .05) and in those with chronic diabetic macular edema (P = .019). – by Matt Hasson

Reference:

Iezzi R. Progression of proliferative diabetic retinopathy in patients treated with 0.2 µg/day fluocinolone acetonide for diabetic macular edema – a fellow-eye controlled study. Presented at: American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting; Aug. 9-14, 2016; San Francisco.

Disclosure: Iezzi reports financial relationships with Alcon Surgical and Alimera Sciences.