Effectivity and Safety after Intravitreal Triamcinolone Acetonide and Bevacizumab Injection in Open Globe Injury

Patients with open globe injury (OGI) are higher risk of developing secondary retinal detachment. This study examines the effectiveness and safety of a single intravitreal of triamcinolone acetonide or bevacizumab to suppress the expression of VEGF and TNF-α in OGI rabbit eye. OGI is generated by inflicting a 5-mm posterior ocular lesion with blade no. 11 and 6-mm inferior the limbus in the supratemporal quadrant. Intravitreal injection with triamcinolone acetonide (TA) 4 mg/0.1 mL or bevacizumab 1.25 mg/50 µL 3 days (T+3 and B+3 groups) and 7 days (T+7 and B+7 groups) after OGI (n = 6). Another OGI group without treatment served as the positive control (CtrP) while five left eyes were randomly selected from the treated group to serve as the negative control (CtrN). Pretreatment and decapitation, a comprehensive anterior segment, posterior segment, and intraocular pressure (IOP) examination was conducted on days 3, 7, and 21. On day 21, the eyes were enucleated, and VEGF and TNF-α expression were assessed by immunohistochemistry. VEGF and TNF-α overexpression were observed in rabbit eyes after OGI (9.64 ± 1,646, p = 0.0002 and 10.44 ± 1,381, and p = 0.0553, respectively). Treatments significantly reduced these pro-inflammatory proteins compared with eyes in the OGI group. Posthoc Tukey's multiple comparison test showed that TA gave better downregulation than that of bevacizumab. Clinical examination found no significant rise of IOP at the end of the study. The current study exhibits TA intravitreal injection after OGI significantly attenuated the overexpression of pro-inflammatory protein with a good safety profile.