Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the toxicity and effect on the retina of intravitreal injection of bevacizumab in patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) using electroretinogram (ERG).
Methods: :
Ten patients (mean age, 64.3±3.7 years) with unilateral CRVO were presented. All the patients signed a written consent statement particularly in the regard to the off-label use of intravitreal injection of bevacizumab. Intravitreal injection of bevacizumab (1.0mg/0.04mL) was given to the affected eye. Before and 1, 2, 4 weeks after intravitreal injection, ERG recordings including flash, scotopic, photopic, flicker ERGs and patient’s on/off responses were performed on both eyes. Amplitudes and implicit times in every component of the ERGs were measured and assessed.
Results: :
Of the ten patients, two patients with impending CRVO showed an improvement in the amplitude of flash ERG for the affected eye one week after the intravitreal injection. The amplitudes of photopic negative response (PhNR) in the affected eyes were smaller than those in the fellow eyes in all ten patients. No significant changes were found in other ERG components during observation.
Conclusions: :
Electrophysiolosically, no retinal toxicity by intravitreal injection of bevacizumab was shown in patients with CRVO. In the early stage of CRVO, intravitreal injection of bevacizumab may improve the retinal circulation of the affected eye.
Keywords: electroretinography: clinical