Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate visual outcome and frequency of injection in treating macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO-ME) with ranibizumab.
Methods :
A prospective case series. Twenty-nine eyes of 29 patients with newly diagnosed BRVO-ME were evaluated; 11 males and 18 females, mean age 71 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 12 months followed-up period. Retreatment criteria was central subfield thickness (CST) exceeded 300 μm. Patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups; IVR group in which patients received IVR monotherapy, and IVR+PC group in which patients received laser photocoagulation (PC) if IVR was needed at month 3 or month 9 in addition the same therapy as IVR group. Number of injections and changes in BCVA and CST were evaluated.
Results :
In all 29 eyes, 15 eyes were assigned to IVR group, and 14 eyes were assigned to IVR+PC group. At the baseline, mean logMAR of IVR group and IVR+PC group were 0.47±0.37, 0.42±0.28, and mean CST of each group were 526±150, 505±126µm, respectively. There were no significant differences between 2 groups in logMAR (p=0.98) and CST (p=0.84). In 14 eyes of IVR+PC group, 8 eyes received PC at month 3 or month 9. At month 12, mean logMAR of IVR group and IVR+PC group improved to 0.12±0.17 (p<0.01), 0.02±0.14 (p<0.01), and mean CST of each group improved to 280±82 (p<0.01), 305±111µm (p<0.01), respectively. There were no significant differences between the groups in logMAR (p=0.13) and CST (p=0.46). Numbers of IVR were 5.3 times in IVR group and 4.9 times in IVR+PC group.
Conclusions :
As needed dosing of ranibizumab was effective for BRVO-ME during 12 months. Additional laser treatment did not contribute for further improvement of BCVA or reduction of IVR.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.