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Fluocinolone acetonide implant reduces treatment burden in DME

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BALTIMORE — An intravitreal injection of a fluocinolone acetonide implant decreases the treatment burden of diabetic macular edema by increasing the interval between injections for patients who are unsuccessful with first-line anti-VEGF therapies, according to research presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.

The retrospective study included 16 eyes with DME that failed treatment with an initial VEGF inhibitor and were subsequently injected with a fluocinolone acetonide implant.

There was no significant difference in logMAR visual acuity before fluocinolone injection compared with after injection.

The average time between anti-VEGF injections increased from 52 days to 217 days (P = .005), while the number of anti-VEGF injections per 28 days decreased from 0.376 to 0.088 (P < .005).

“From our standpoint, one of the most interesting things is that this particular implant really decreased the burden of injections,” Shaina M. Rubino, MD, said in an interview with Healio.com/OSN.

“Functionally, that’s huge because these patients are sick, and many of them cannot come every time to get an injection. It’s just not a choice. They have dialysis or other medical issues. If they are treated with something like this, they could be treated every 3 months or 4 months, which would be a huge increase in their quality of life,” Rubino said.

Central foveal thickness decreased from 389 µm to 353 µm (P = .03), and IOP increased from 15.8 mm Hg to 17.8 mm Hg (P < .005).

The study is ongoing, and average follow-up after the injection is currently 146 days. – by Abigail Sutton

Reference:

Rubino SM, et al. Treatment of refractory diabetic macular edema with intravitreal injection of a fluocinolone acetonide implant. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting; May 7-11, 2017; Baltimore.

Disclosure: Rubino reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.