Abstract
Purpose:
To identify predictive factors for visual outcome and frequency of injection in treating macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO-ME) with ranibizumab in Japanese patients.
Methods:
A retrospective case series. Forty one eyes of 41 patients with newly treated BRVO-ME were evaluated; 19 males and 22 females, mean age 70 years old. All patients underwent ophthalmic examination including measurement of the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and evaluation of the fovea using optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Cirrus OCT, Carl-Zeiss, Germany). All eyes were treated with intravitreal injection of ranibizumab (IVR) as the initial treatment and received as needed reinjection during 6 months followed-up period. Retreatment criteria was mean foveal thickness (MFT) was more than 250 µm or decreasing BCVA compared to that at the last visit.
Results:
The mean number of IVR during 6 months was 3.4 times. The mean logMAR improved from 0.48 at baseline to 0.15 at 6 months (p<0.0001). The average of MFT decreased from 485.3±149.2μm at baseline to 285.2±64.2μm at 6 months (p<0.0001). The mean improvement in logMAR at month 6 correlated with the mean improvement in logMAR at month 1 (r=0.689, p<0.01). The mean improvement in MFT at month 6 correlated with the mean improvement in MFT at month 1 (r=0.843, p<0.01). The number of injection correlated with the average of MFT at baseline (r=0.378, p<0.02).
Conclusions:
As needed dosing of ranibizumab was effective for BRVO-ME during 6 months. The mean improvements of logMAR and MFT at month 1 were useful as prognostic factors at month 6, respectively. Thicker MFT at baseline may need more frequent injections.