Fluocinolone Acetonide Intravitreal Implants in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the use of fluocinolone acetonide implants (Retisert) in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKH).

Design: Interventional case series.

Methods: Retrospective review of medical records.

Results: Two patients with VKH requiring high-dose systemic corticosteroid therapy to control their inflammation and bilateral serous retinal detachments received bilateral fluocinolone acetonide implants. Upon tapering of systemic corticosteroids, one patient had recurrent serous retinal detachments and the other patient’s anterior chamber and vitreous inflammation returned.

Conclusions: The authors’ experience with fluocinolone acetonide implants in VKH has been mixed with an inability to fully taper off of systemic corticosteroids.

KEYWORDS::

• Fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant
• uveitis
• Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Department of Ophthalmology at UCSF is supported by a core grant from the National Eye Institute, EY02162. Dr. Acharya is supported by a National Eye Institute K23EY017897 grant and a Research to Prevent Blindness Career Development Award. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to UCSF to fund Allison Loh.

Declaration of interest: Dr. Acharya has participated in an advisory board meeting and received an honorarium from Bausch & Lomb, the manufacturers of the Retisert implant. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.