Early Retinal and Choroidal Coat Thickness Changes after Intravitreal Dexamethasone Implant Injection for Diabetic Macular Edema

Abstract

Background: Intravitreal steroid injection is one of the treatmentoptions for diabetic macular edema. Dexamethasone implant isthe most novel form of intravitreal steroid therapy. Improvementin macular thickness is a well-known effect of Dexamethasoneimplant however, subfoveal choroidal coat thickness changes requireinvestigation.Aims: To evaluate the early central macular thickness and subfovealchoroidal thickness alterations after single-dose dexamethasoneimplant injection in diabetic macular edema.Study Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: We identified 29 patients with diabetic macular edema(29 eyes) who underwent optical coherence tomography andfundus fluorescein angiography. All patients received a single-doseintravitreal Dexamethasone implant and were followed up for centralmacular thickness and subfoveal choroidal thickness alterations for 1hour, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months post-injection.Results: The preoperative mean central macular thickness andsubfoveal choroidal thickness measurements were 592.3±122.3(412–879) μm and 264.8±53.7 (165–397) μm, respectively. Centralmacular thickness measurements decreased significantly in the firsthour (p