Cystoid macular edema (CME) is one of the important complications of uveitis leading to irreversible blindness. Currently, there is no gold standard treatment for this condition. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of single intravitreal diclofenac (IVD) injection on short-term outcome of refractory uveitis-associated CME.

This was a prospective clinical study on 16 consecutive patients (16 eyes) with refractory uveitis-associated CME. Intravitreal injection of 500 μg/0.1 ml of diclofenac sodium was given to the patients. The clinical outcomes considered were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) change and central macular thickness (CMT) changes in the pre- and post-injection periods. Follow-up examinations were performed at 1 and 4 weeks after the injection.

Age of the patients varied from 18 to 59 years (mean ± SD: 39.5 ± 13.2 years). Ten patients (62.5%) were females. Statistically significant differences were found in the decrease of mean BCVA (logMAR) (P = 0.043) and mean CMT (P = 0.003) during the study period. There was no significant difference in the intraocular pressure increase at the end of the study (P = 0.94).

IVD may be a promising treatment for refractory uveitis-associated CME. Further clinical trials with a larger sample size should be conducted to confirm these findings and compare them with other treatments.