Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the effect of early-scatter laser photocoagulation on the formation of collateral vessels in branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO).
Methods :
The medical records of 40 cases (40 patients) of BRVO with macular edema were retrospectively reviewed. 23 patients were treated with intravitreal bevacizumab(IVB) injection and 17 patients received IVB injection with additional laser treatment. Early-scatter laser photocoagulation was applied for capillary nonperfusion area regardless of retinal neovascularization. Collateral vessel presence, recurrence rate of macular edema, number of IVB injections were examined and compared between groups.
Results :
During the follow-up period collateral vessel formation was noted in 10/23 eyes (43.5%) at IVB injection group and 15/17 eyes (88.2%) at laser combined treatment group(p=0.004). Recurrence rate of macular edema was lower in laser combined treatment group(29.4%) than in IVB injection group (65.2%) and this difference was statistically significant(p=0.025). The average number of IVB injections were 3.57 ± 3.23 in IVB group and 2.14 ± 2.26 in laser combined treatment group(p=0.029).
Conclusions :
The early-scatter laser photocoagulation has the effect of promoting the collateral vessels formation and the presence of collaterals seem to impact the course BRVO patients.
Combined early-scatter laser photocoagulation treatment after intravitreal bevacizumab injection lowered the recurrence rate of macular edema and number of intravitreal bevacizumab injections complicated with BRVO.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.