3.3 Results of network meta-analysis
The network plots of each outcome are presented in Figure 3 (A, B and
C), presenting the results and quality of evidence for IOP at the
4th week, the 12th week , and the
24th week of triamcinolone acetonide treatment by
different routes of administration. Heterogeneity of the network
meta-analysis is also shown in the appendix(Supplementary Figure 1-3).
3.4 IOP
Eighteen RCTs including 834 eyes
(575 patients) reported IOP after triamcinolone therapy with
different routes of administration.
Intervention nodes included in this network meta-analysis were
intravitreal injection triamcinolone, retrobulbar injections
triamcinolone, sub-Tenon’s infusion of triamcinolone, suprachoroidal
triamcinolone, and placebo.
The GRADE quality for network
meta-analysis is shown in Figure 4. Detailed data are shown in the
appendix (Supplementary Table 4-6).
In pairwise comparisons within the
network of these RCTs: at the 4th
week, there was no statistically significant effect on IOP between
triamcinolone acetonide by different routes of administration and
placebo. At the 12th week, there was a
significant difference in IOP
between IVTA and STiTA (MD, 1.67 [95% CrI, 0.25, 3.15], Figure 4B),
whereas other pairwise comparisons were not different from each
other. At the 24th week, compared
with the placebo group, IVTA, SCTA and STiTA had statistically
significant effects on IOP (MD, 1.35 [95% CrI, 0.23, 2.30], 2.42
[95% CrI, 4.53, 0.19], and 1.31 [95% CrI, 2.49, 0.02], Figure
4C).
3.5Rankings and sucra
The rank probabilities of different
routes of administration for triamcinolone acetonide and placebo are
shown in Figure 5. The rank diagrams
show that the probabilities of RITA being the safest routes of
administration were 35.50% (the 4th week), 57.80% (the 12th week), and
65.60% (the 24th week). The rank diagrams show that the probabilities
of IVTA being among the top safety routes of administration are both
0.00% at the 4th week, the 12th week, and the 24th week. The SUCRA
values of triamcinolone acetonide treatment by different routes of
administration were RITA (0.7041)
> STiTA (0.5865) > PLA (0.5431) >
SCTA (0.5149) > IVTA (0.1513) at the 4th week, RITA
(0.8029) > STiTA (0.6380) > PLA (0.5973)
> SCTA (0.3691) > IVTA (0.0926) at the 12th
week, and RITA (0.8726) > PLA (0.8221)> STiTA
(0.3704) > IVTA (0.3565) > SCTA (0.0783) at
the 24th week. Detailed data are shown in Supplementary Tables 7-9.