Key takeaways:

• A single suprachoroidal injection of triamcinolone acetonide had a durability of more than 4 months.
• About 21% of eyes had an IOP increase of at least 10 mm Hg.

MONTREAL — Suprachoroidal triamcinolone acetonide had a durable effect in patients with chronic cystoid macular edema, according to a real-world study.

In his presentation at the American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting, Sunir J. Garg, MD, FACS, FASRS, said Xipere (triamcinolone acetonide injectable suspension, Bausch + Lomb) was approved for uveitic macular edema 5 years ago, and small studies have demonstrated promise in cystoid macular edema (CME). However, there is not a lot of real-world data.

Xipere had a durable effect in patients with chronic cystoid macular edema.

“The purpose of this was to see the durability and safety of suprachoroidal triamcinolone for the treatment of CME,” he said during the presentation. “This was a retrospective review using the Vestrum Health database over a 3.5-year period.”

The study included 643 eyes of 586 patients with CME who received suprachoroidal triamcinolone between October 2021 and March 2025. About half of the eyes had undergone prior steroid injection, Garg said.

Durability was defined as the duration between suprachoroidal injection and the need for another injection within the 12-month follow-up period, Garg said in the presentation. Safety was defined as IOP increase during the follow-up period.

A single injection had a durability of 4.3 months in 62% of eyes, and two injections had a durability of 7.8 months in 35% of eyes, according to the study.

“If you look at all patients who had their first suprachoroidal steroid injection, they didn’t need another steroid shot for about 130 days,” Garg told Healio. “There were about 117 eyes that stayed with three consecutive suprachoroidal triamcinolone injections, and they were able to go approximately 116 days between shots. Some patients had their initial suprachoroidal triamcinolone injection but then switched to a different injectable steroid. They were only able to go 90 days between shots.”

Garg said that about 21% of eyes had an IOP increase of at least 10 mm Hg over 12 months. However, more than half of the eyes that experienced an IOP increase had preexisting glaucoma and would have been excluded from phase 3 studies.

“Suprachoroidal triamcinolone acetonide appears to be a really good treatment for chronic CME, and it lasts around 4 months, which is approximately a month longer than other injectable steroids,” Garg told Healio. “It has similar durability and safety results in eyes that have CME after cataract surgery and has a pretty low risk of an IOP elevation even in patients who have preexisting glaucoma.”