Intravitreal Topotecan for Prevention or Treatment of Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy in Retinal Detachment

Overview

Intravitreal topotecan exhibits strong anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and anti-fibrotic properties, making it a promising option for preventing and treating proliferative vitreoretinopathy in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Preclinical studies have demonstrated its efficacy in proliferative vitreoretinopathy models, where no adverse events have been reported for doses of 5 µg to 30 µg. This prospective, matched cohort study aims to assess the therapeutic efficacy and safety of intravitreal topotecan for preventing and treating proliferative vitreoretinopathy in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment patients.

Patients who provide informed consent for participation in the experimental study arm will undergo standard-of-care retinal detachment surgery with intravitreal topotecan (8 µg/0.05 mL), diluted in sterile saline and administered preoperatively within one week before surgery, as well as one week postoperatively. Matched historical control patients who received standard-of-care retinal detachment surgery without intravitreal topotecan will be eligible for study participation. Both the experimental and historical control study arms will be further divided into two groups: (i) patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment who exhibit high-risk characteristics of proliferative vitreoretinopathy on optical coherence tomography or have early proliferative vitreoretinopathy confirmed by clinical examination, and (ii) patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment who have neither high-risk characteristics of proliferative vitreoretinopathy nor a history of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.