In South Punjab, Pakistan, where tertiary hospitals manage a high cataract workload, data on nepafenac sodium to reduce this inflammatory response is not up to the mark. Relative benefit of low-dose versus high-dose regimens remains unclear in routine clinical practice. Therefore, this study was performed with the objective to compare the effectiveness of low-dose nepafenac sodium with high-dose nepafenac sodium in preventing macular edema after cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery is among the most commonly performed ophthalmic procedures but postoperative macular edema remains an important cause of delayed or suboptimal visual recovery because surgical inflammation can increase prostaglandin release, disrupt the blood-retinal barrier, and increase central macular thickness. Nepafenac sodium is used to reduce this inflammatory response yet the relative benefit of low-dose versus high-dose regimens remains unclear in routine clinical practice. Comparing low-dose with high-dose nepafenac sodium can therefore clarify whether a lower-dose regimen provides adequate protection with lower cost and treatment burden, or whether high-dose therapy offers superior anatomical and visual benefit after cataract surgery.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
176
Patients received high-dose nepafenac sodium 0.3% ophthalmic suspension, one drop in the operated eye once daily, starting one day before cataract surgery, continued on the day of surgery, and then continued postoperatively until day 60. An additional drop was instilled 30-120 minutes before surgery.
Patients received low-dose nepafenac sodium 0.1% ophthalmic suspension, one drop in the operated eye three times daily, starting one day before cataract surgery, continued on the day of surgery, and then continued postoperatively until day 60. An additional preoperative drop was also instilled 30-120 minutes before surgery.
Bahawal Victoria Hospital/Quaid-e-Azam Medical College
Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan
Central macular thickness
Reduction in the mean central macular thickness was compared with the baseline to postoperative day 60.
Time frame: 60 days after surgery
Macular edema index
Reduction in the macular edema index was compared to the baseline.
Time frame: 60 days after surgery
Treatment compliance
Frequencies of patients who completed the treatment successfully were compared between two groups.
Time frame: 60 days after surgery
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