[Evaluation of possible prognostic factors for the course of visual acuity after intravitreal ttriamconolone...

Intrvitreal injections are increasingly applied in the treatment of macular oedema of different origins. So far no clear preoperative prognostic factors are known. This investigation was implemented to quantify the predictive value of preoperative retinal sensitivity assessments by means of microperimetry with regard to the short-term course of visual acuity.

42 patients with macular oedema due different ocular diseases (such as diabetic maculopathy, retinal vein occlusion, Irvine Gass syndrome) were examined pre- and postoperatively by means of microperimetry, fixation, optical coherence tomography and fluorescein angiography. Their medical history, treatment to date, visual acuity, central retinal thickness and retinal sensitivity were recorded before and six weeks after intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide.

The data from 38 injections could be evaluated; 21 eyes showed an improvement in visual acuity of more than one line. However, statistically significant prognostic factors could not be identified: patients with a visual acuity increase of at least one line showed a median total retinal sensitivity of 8.5 dB (5.0-11.0 dB) versus 8.3 dB (3.6-12.8 dB) in patients with unchanged or decreasing visual acuity (Wilcoxon p = 0.706). The same tendency was observed in retinal thickness with medians of 618 µm (483-689 µm) versus 558 µm (447-621 µm; Wilcoxon p = 0.220). However, a moderate association of the visual outcome with the 6 weeks change in total retinal sensitivity was observed. Patients with visual improvement of at least one line showed a significant sensitivity increase of 1.7 dB in median versus a median decrease of 0.8 dB in patients with stable or worsened visual acuity (sign test p = 0.003 and p = 0.629, respectively).

The presented data did not reveal statistically significant predictors of the short-term visual outcome after triamzinolone injection by means preoperative microperimetry assessment.