Flicker electroretinograms before and after intravitreal ranibizumab injection in eyes with central retinal vein occlusion

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the amplitudes and implicit times of the flicker electroretinograms recorded by the RETeval^TM system before and after an intravitreal injection of ranibizumab (IVR) in eyes with a central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO).

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 15 consecutive patients who had macular oedema secondary to CRVO and had received an IVR at the Nagoya University Hospital from November 2013 to July 2014. Flicker ERGs were recorded with both the RETeval^TM system and a conventional ERG system before the IVR. One month after the IVR, recordings were repeated with the RETeval^TM system.

Results: The implicit times of the flicker ERGs recorded before the IVR by the RETeval^TM system were significantly correlated with those recorded by the conventional system (r = 0.89, P <0.001). The mean implicit times of the flicker ERGs of the affected eyes recorded with the RETeval^TM system were significantly longer than that of the fellow eyes (32.2 ± 2.6 msec vs 28.1 ± 1.2 msec, P <0.001). One month after the IVR, the implicit times of the flicker ERGs recorded with the RETeval^TM system were significantly shortened from 32.2±2.6 to 30.6±2.2 msec (P<0.001).

Conclusions: The shortening of the implicit times of the flicker ERGs after the IVR indicates an improvement of retinal function.