PURPOSE

Within the last 5 years, intravitreal injections of triamcinolone acetonide have been for a wide variety of ocular diseases with intraocular oedema and neovascularization. With clinical experience accumulating, the question arises for which indication the side effects outweigh the therapeutic efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone monotherapy.

SCOPE

Comparing different diseases, increase in visual acuity was lower in patients receiving intravitreal triamcinolone monotherapy for exudative age-related macular degeneration than in patients with diabetic macular oedema, branch retinal vein occlusion, central retinal vein occlusion, uveitis, and pseudophakic cystoid macular oedema. Rise in intraocular pressure was significantly higher in relatively young patients with uveitis than in any other patient group.

CONCLUSIONS

Improvement in vision after intravitreal triamcinolone monotherapy is highest in non-ischaemic diseases with an intraretinal macular oedema such as pseudophakic cystoid macular oedema; it is lower in partially ischaemic diseases with intraretinal macular oedema such as diabetic macular oedema or retinal vein occlusions; and it is lowest in diseases with a primarily subretinal location of the disease such as exudative age-related macular degeneration. For the latter diseases, intravitreal triamcinolone monotherapy is, therefore, no longer up-to-date, particularly with the upcoming intravitreal application of vascular endothelial growth factor blocking drugs. For diseases with intraretinal oedema, the rule of thumb may be that intravitreal triamcinolone increases vision as much as retinal ischaemia and tissue destruction by the underlying disease allow it. The rise in intraocular pressure is higher in relatively young patients with uveitis than in elderly patients with other reasons for macular oedema.