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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Aug 15, 2021; 12(8): 1220-1232
Published online Aug 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i8.1220
Place of intravitreal dexamethasone implant in the treatment armamentarium of diabetic macular edema
Omer Karti, Ali Osman Saatci
Omer Karti, Department of Ophthalmology, İzmir Democracy University, İzmir 35330, Turkey
Ali Osman Saatci, Department of Ophthalmology, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir 35330, Turkey
Author contributions: Karti O and Saatci AO contributed to the conception of the paper, literature review, critical revision, and approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ali Osman Saatci, MD, Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Dokuz Eylul University, İnciraltı Mahallesi Mithatpaşa cad. No. 1606 Balçova, İzmir 35330, Turkey. osman.saatci@yahoo.com
Received: December 27, 2020
Peer-review started: December 27, 2020
First decision: April 20, 2021
Revised: April 25, 2021
Accepted: July 7, 2021
Article in press: July 7, 2021
Published online: August 15, 2021
Processing time: 224 Days and 23.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Administration of dexamethasone (DEX) implant is among the main therapeutic alternatives for treating the diabetic macular edema (DME). Though DEX implant provides a long-standing anatomic and visual improvement, implant induced cataract progression and intraocular pressure elevation limit its clinical use as the first-line treatment but DEX implant can sometimes be the preferred option in previously vitrectomized eyes, pseudophakic eyes, and in some specific conditions where the use of vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors is either contraindicated or suboptimal. In this mini-review, we overviewed the randomized-controlled trials, real-life clinical experiences, and meta-analyses on DEX implant treatment in DME.