Abstract
Purpose:
Retinal venous tortuosity is a risk factor for the development of iris neovascularization (NVI) in eyes with a central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). It is also known that the increased level of ocular vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is associated with NVI. Thus, the purpose of this study was to prove whether the degree of venous tortuosity is significantly correlated with the aqueous VEGF concentration in CRVO eyes.
Methods:
We reviewed the medical records of 19 eyes of 19 patients who had received an intravitreal injection of bevacizumab or ranibizumab for the macular edema due to CRVO at Nagoya University Hospital within 16 weeks of the onset. Aqueous humor was collected before the injections, and the VEGF concentration was measured by ELISA. The venous tortuosity index was calculated by dividing the arc length of the retinal veins by the chord length of the same segment. The correlation between the mean tortuosity index of the inferotemporal and supratemporal branches of the retinal vein and the aqueous VEGF concentration was determined.
Results:
The mean VEGF concentration in the aqueous humor was 401 pg/ml with a range of 100 to 1320 pg/ml. The degree of venous tortuosity was significantly correlated with the VEGF concentration in the aqueous. (r=0.51, P=0.03, Spearman’s rank test).
Conclusions:
The significant correlation between the venous tortuosity and the aqueous VEGF concentration indicates that the degree of retinal venous tortuosity can be used to predict the risk of NVI in CRVO eyes.
Keywords: 749 vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease •
748 vascular endothelial growth factor