Treatment of cystoid macular edema in retinitis pigmentosa with intravitreal triamcinolone

Objective: To evaluate the results of treatment with intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide injection in patients with cystoid macular edema secondary to retinitis pigmentosa. Methods: This prospective, nonrandomized comparative trial included 20 eyes of 20 patients with cystoid macular edema secondary to retinitis pigmentosa ( group A) and 20 eyes of 20 control individuals ( group B) with the same characteristics who declined treatment. All treated eyes received an intravitreal injection of 0.1 mL of triamcinolone acetonide ( 4 mg). The total follow-up was 12 months. The main outcome measures were best-corrected visual acuity, central macular thickness measured by optical coherence tomography, and intraocular pressure. Results: No statistically significant changes were observed in best-corrected visual acuity. Central macular thickness showed statistical differences between the 2 groups. Intraocular pressure showed a statistically significant increase after the first day, at 1 month, and at 3 months in both groups but no significant increase afterward. Conclusions: Intravitreal triamcinolone administration may be useful for select cases of cystoid macular edema in patients with retinitis pigmentosa but its efficacy seems to be limited over time. Therefore, to obtain a good anatomical result and an improvement of best-corrected visual acuity, further treatment would be necessary after 6 months.