"Therapy Applied Directly Inside The Eye Best For Treating Uveitic Mascular Edema"

Uveitis—a collection of inflammatory conditions that affect internal eye tissues—is a leading cause of blindness in the United States and can be chronic. About 40 percent of people with uveitis affecting the middle or back of the eye develop macular edema, a build-up of fluid in the macula, which is the region of the retina responsible for central vision. Systemic corticosteroids, which help reduce inflammation, typically are used to treat chronic uveitis, but additional treatment with regional corticosteroid injections is often needed to treat macular edema. The researchers compared three commonly used corticosteroid treatments for macular edema in patients with uveitis. "Although all three treatments reduced macular edema and increased visual acuity, the data show superior efficacy for intravitreal triamcinolone and the intravitreal dexamethasone implant, which suggests that the approach to treatment for uveitic macular edema should be through the intravitreal route," said Douglas A. Jabs, M.D., M.B.A., professor of ophthalmology and medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, chair of the Multicenter Uveitis Steroid Treatment Trial Research Group, which conducted the research. While each of these three treatments have been studied previously and have been shown to be effective in treating macular edema complications of uveitis, this is the first head-to-head comparison.

- Douglas Jabs, MD, Professor, Chair Emeritus, Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, The Mount Sinai Hospital

Learn more

Additional Coverage:

European Pharmaceutical Review