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Br J Ophthalmol 2004;88:598
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Intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide for exudative age related macular degeneration

  1. D Wong,
  2. I Campbell,
  3. C Groenwald,
  4. E Lancaster
  1. Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Prescot Street, Liverpool L7 8XP, UK
  1. Correspondence to: MrDavid Wong Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Prescot Street, Liverpool L7 8XP, UK; shdwongliv.ac.uk
  • Accepted 17 July 2003

We read the article by Jonas et al on intravitreal triamcinolone injections for exudative age related macular degeneration with interest.1 The paper stated that visual acuity increased significantly (p<0.001) from 0.16 (SD 0.11) to a mean maximum of 0.23 (0.17). The authors therefore picked the best from one of up to 10 postoperative visual acuity measurements and compared it with a single preoperative visual acuity measurement. This is misleading the reader regarding the true effectiveness of the treatment.

The Macular Photocoagulation Study Group found that the differences in between two repeated tests were one line or more in 13% of cases and the differences were greatest in patients with visual acuity of 20/100 or worse.2 By taking up to 10 postoperative measurements, Jonas et al greatly increased the chances of a positive result. The difference between mean pre-injection 0.16 (20/125 or 6/36) and best mean postoperative 0.23 (20/87 or 6/26) was less than one line on the Snellen chart.

Their table …

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