Anti-inflammatory Pharmacotherapy for the Prevention of Cystoid Macular Edema After Cataract Surgery.

Purpose: To elucidate strategies for and controversies surrounding the use of anti-inflammatory medications after uneventful cataract surgery, with a focus on the prevention of irreversible vision loss due to cystoid macular edema (CME).

Design: Perspective.

Methods: Expert commentary on the management of inflammation after cataract surgery. Discussion includes combination therapy with corticosteroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), dosing strategies, and emerging therapies.

Results: While prescribing both NSAIDs and corticosteroids for cataract surgery is common, these classes have overlapping mechanisms. Combination therapy may speed visual recovery, but there remains little evidence for improved long-term visual outcomes from NSAIDs. The last 2 decades have seen increasing data on potential benefits of pretreatment with NSAIDs 1-3 days prior to cataract surgery. Simultaneously, newly approved "dropless" delivery systems hold promise, and clinical trials are ongoing to assess outcomes of such formulations.

Conclusions: Optimal pharmacologic treatment for inflammation after cataract surgery remains controversial. A consensus definition for clinically significant CME may facilitate the comparison of anti-inflammatory drugs. And there remains a need for well-designed trials examining both topical and extended-release drug-delivery systems to refine the treatment paradigm.