Analysis of the Effect of Intravitreal Dexamethasone Injection on Diabetic Macular Edema After Cataract Surgery (IDDMECS)

Macular Edema (Swelling of a particular site of the retina) can become a significant problem for Diabetics undergoing Cataract surgery. And a significant number of people who undergo Cataract surgery each year are diabetics. And when you multiply these two factors together you are left with a significant number of people who do not gain as much vision as their peers. Diabetics who develop Macular Edema actually can loose some vision after surgery and when you follow them up, they don't gain as much vision. This Study aims to prevent such an event from happening and therefore allow Diabetics to gain as much vision as they can from cataract surgery. This study will use Dexamethasone injected intravitreally (into the gel of the eye) at the end of cataract extraction to control Macular edema brought about by surgery. The main outcome is the central retina thickness and retinal volume as measured by Optical Coherence Tomography. Secondary outcomes are BCVA and incidence of Laser Treatment.

Other Drugs, life Bevacizumab and Pegaptanib, have been used for this purpose but they are expensive and have potential systemic side-effects due to anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) actions. Dexamethasone has been used in the eye for decades and is short-lived, minimizing possible systemic effects. Moreover, this drug is at least 15x cheaper than the previously mentioned ones and therefore has tremendous benefit for developing countries. We seek an alternative drug that can reduce or prevent Macular edema at a less expensive and safer way.