Abstract
Purpose:
The author introduced concept of “consecutive macular edema” and evaluated validity about the factor of visual outcome in macular edema (ME) secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO).
Methods:
We reviewed the medical records of patients with ME due to BRVO who were available for a follow up period of at least 1 year. Patients were categorized into 2 groups according to the final visual acuity. The ‘gainer group’ consisted of eye with a gain of 2 or more Snellen chart lines and the ‘non-gainer group’ consisted of eye with less than 2 lines improvement or which had worsened at the last follow-up visit. Comparative clinical characteristics were analyzed between the 2 groups. Total duration of ME were sum of period when ME were existed, not considering of continousment and consecutive duration of ME were duration of longest period when ME continously maintained
Results:
Seventy-one eyes of 71 patients treated with intravitreal bevacizumab injection(18 patients), intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide injection(20 patients) and natural course(33 patients) were enrolled. The gainer group were 32 patients and non-gainer group were 39 patients. Age, duration of symptom, initial visual acuity, initial CMT and duration of follow up did not show significant difference between gainer group and non gainer group. But, total duration of ME in gainer group was shorter than non-gainer group (4.23±2.29, 6.87±4.04month, p=0.001). Especially, consecutive duration of ME was shorter in gainer group than non-gainer group (3.33±1.50, 4.23±2.29month) and difference of which was more significant (p=0.000). After exclusion of macular ischemia, total duration of ME and consecutive duration of ME in gainer group were also shorter than non gainer group (p= 0.010, p=0.025).
Conclusions:
The duration of ME in non-gainer group was longer than the gainer group. Especially, the consecutive duration of ME was an important factor in determining the final visual outcome (p=0.001, p=0.000). Therefore, single injection of appropriate timing to reduce consecutive duration of ME could improve the visual outcome in BRVO.
Keywords: 585 macula/fovea •
688 retina •
749 vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease