Cureus. 2025 Mar 11;17(3):e80391. doi: 10.7759/cureus.80391. eCollection 2025 Mar.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aims to present the long-term functional and anatomical outcomes of intravitreal dexamethasone (DEX) implant in patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) in real-world daily practice.
METHODS: Retrospective study of consecutive patients with macular edema due to CRVO, treated with 0.7 mg DEX implant and had 48-month follow-up. Data on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield thickness (CST) at months 12, 24, 36, and 48 after initiation of DEX implant treatment were collected from patients’ charts. Patient demographics and co-morbidities were also recorded, while potential factors affecting the final anatomical and functional outcomes were assessed.
RESULTS: Thirty-one patients (31 eyes) received a mean number of 4.1±1.1 DEX implants and demonstrated significantly improved BCVA at all time-points of follow-up (p<0.001 for all comparisons). Accordingly, CST decreased significantly at all time-points of follow-up (p<0.001 for all comparisons). Treatment naïve patients were found to have lower BCVA at month 48 compared to those who had previously received intravitreal aflibercept, although there was no difference regarding CST between the two groups at month 48. When assessing factors that may predict the outcome, only naïve administration of treatment was found to have a negative correlation with BCVA at 48 months.
CONCLUSIONS: In this series of patients with macular edema secondary to CRVO, a demonstrable improvement in BCVA was recorded along with CST decrease at a long-term follow-up of four years. Only naïve treatment with DEX implant negatively correlated with visual acuity outcomes, but it was not confirmed at the multivariate analysis. Therefore, there was no evidence to support a predictive relationship between demographic and baseline anatomical factors and final BCVA and CST.
PMID:40213734 | PMC:PMC11984006 | DOI:10.7759/cureus.80391
