Dexamethasone Intravitreal Implant After Vitrectomy for Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane

Pars plana vitrectomy with membrane peeling has been used for years to successfully to treat ERM (epiretinal membrane). However, despite successful surgery, approximately 10-30% of patients may not experience any improvement in visual acuity (ref. 1-7). Macular causes of unsatisfactory visual outcome following vitrectomy include persistent macular edema and reoccurrence of epiretinal membrane (ref. 1-7). Concomitant administration of intravitreal corticosteroids (triamcinolone acetonide) after pars plana vitrectomy and membrane peeling for epiretinal membrane has been reported to speed up and improve the anatomic and functional outcome (ref 8). Given that intravitreal triamcinolone has been reported to last approximately 113 days ina post-vitrectomy eye (ref. 9); the investigators postulate that a longer-acting corticosteroid such as Ozurdex could not only have the benefits of improved anatomic and functional outcomes, but also a longer sustained effect.