Dexamethasone Intravitreal Implant in Combination with Laser Photocoagulation for the Treatment of Diffuse Diabetic Macular Edema.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To study the efficacy of dexamethasone (DEX) intravitreal implant followed by macular laser after 1-month for diffuse diabetic macular edema (DDME). Methods: Interventional case series of 49 eyes of 33 patients with DDME attending the retina clinic from November 2013 to December 2014. All patients underwent detailed ophthalmic evaluation followed by fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography. The sequential macular laser was done after 1-month after DEX implant. All patients had a minimum follow-up of 6 months. Results: Mean age was 58.33 years ± 9.4 years, mean best corrected visual acuity (VA) was 0.5418 logMAR units at presentation improved to 0.4748 at 1-month and maintained 0.4385 at 3 months and 0.4376 at 6 months follow-up (P = 0.01). Mean Central macular thickness was 529.2 μ at presentation reduced to 285.4 μ at 1-month and maintained 296.1 μ at 3 months and 321.1 μ at 6 months follow-up (P = 0.0001). Total macular volume was 11.78 mm3 at presentation reduced to 7.78 mm3 at 1-month and maintained 7.97 mm3 at 3 months and 8.1 mm3 at 6 months follow-up (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: DEX intravitreal implant followed by macular laser showed favorable results by decreasing macular edema and improving VA in DDME, where the role of laser alone is limited.