Role of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on change in macular volume postcataract surgery in diabetic eyes: A retrospective comparative study

Context: Diabetic eyes suffer from variety of complications including macular edema. Cataract surgery is the most commonly done procedure throughout the world and majority would be diabetics. As pseudophakic-cystoid macular edema (CME) is a known complication following cataract surgery, our study concentrated on finding the role of prophylactic topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on change in total macular volume (TMV) postcataract surgery in diabetic eyes.

Aims: To evaluate the role of NSAIDs on change in TMV postcataract surgery in diabetic eyes.

Settings and design: Retrospective comparative study.

Subjects and methods: Data were collected from the medical records department of our institute constituting diabetics undergoing cataract surgery from June-2021 to February-2022. Eighty diabetic eyes were divided into two groups: one group were given topical nepafenac drops and another who were not given. Demographic details, diabetic retinopathy stage, preoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT), and postoperative day (POD) 7, day 28, and 3 months OCT were collected. Statistical analysis was done to compare the change in TMV between both the groups.

Statistical analysis used: Student's t-test and Chi-squared/Fisher's exact test were employed to find statistically significant differences between the two groups using SPSS-22.0 software.

Results: In our study, the mean age in the group with nepafenac was 60.93 ± 5.86 years and 31 (77.5%) had moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and in the group without nepafenac, the mean age was 58.53 ± 7.41 years and 30 (75%) had moderate NPDR. Majority of the individuals in the study group were known diabetic for 2-5 years. Change in TMV at POD 3 months among two groups was not statistically significant; P = 0.758 (P < 0.05-significant).

Conclusions: Our study concluded that topical-NSAIDs played no role in postoperative period following cataract surgery with respect to change in TMV in diabetic eyes. Thus, prophylactic usage of topical-NSAIDs can be a burden on patient as it has no role in prevention of pseudophakic-CME in those with the duration of diabetes mellitus <5 years and with mild-to-moderate NPDR.