Ocular Hypertension Following Intravitreal Injection of 0.7mg Dexamethasone Implant versus 2mg Triamcinolone

ABSTRACT

Background: To compare the incidence and outcomes of ocular hypertension (OHT) after intravitreal injection of 0.7 mg dexamethasone (DEX) and 2 mg triamcinolone acetonide (IVT).

Methods: In a single-center, retrospective comparative case series, all patients with at least 3 months follow-up receiving 2 mg IVT 3/1/2012 – 3/1/2017 or 0.7 mg dexamethasone 10/1/2014 – 3/1/2017 were included. Ocular hypertension was defined as an intraocular pressure (IOP) ≥ 25 mmHg. Patients with a minimum of 3 months follow-up were included. Patients receiving any other form of topical, oral, or intravitreal steroid were excluded.

Results: 106 eyes in 100 patients receiving IVT and 114 eyes in 102 patients receiving DEX were included. The mean number of injections was 2.9 for patients receiving IVT and 2.4 for patients receiving DEX (p = .11). Fourteen eyes (13.2%) in 14 patients receiving IVT developed OHT compared to 17 eyes (15.1%) in 15 patients receiving DEX (p = .85). All cases of OHT were managed with IOP lowering drops or observation alone.

Conclusions: Rates of ocular hypertension following 2 mg IVT and DEX are similar. All patients developing OHT were successfully managed without surgical intervention.

Keywords:

• Dexamethasone
• triamcinolone
• ocular hypertension
• corticosteroids
• intravitreal injection

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors have no competing interests or financial disclosures regarding this study.

MEETING PRESENTATIONS

Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, Vancouver, 2019

Unidentified data is available upon request from Brandon Kuley. Please email [email protected] for inquiries.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

In a study comparing 114 eyes receiving 0.7mg intravitreal dexamethasone and 106 eyes receiving 2mg intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide, no significant difference in the rate of ocular hypertension (≥25mmHg) was found (14.9% vs. 13.2%, p=.846).