Intravitreal bevacizumab alone or combined with macular laser photocoagulation for recurrent or persistent macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion

Takafumi Hirashima; Tomoyuki Chihara; Toshitaka Bun; Takao Utsumi; Miou Hirose; Hideyasu Oh

doi:10.1155/2014/173084

Intravitreal bevacizumab alone or combined with macular laser photocoagulation for recurrent or persistent macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion

J Ophthalmol. 2014:2014:173084. doi: 10.1155/2014/173084. Epub 2014 Jul 7.

Authors

Takafumi Hirashima¹, Tomoyuki Chihara¹, Toshitaka Bun¹, Takao Utsumi¹, Miou Hirose¹, Hideyasu Oh¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki Hospital, 1-1-1 Higashi-daimotsu-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0828, Japan.

Abstract

Background. To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection with or without macular laser photocoagulation (MLP) for recurrent or persistent macular edema (ME) secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). Methods. Thirty-four eyes underwent IVB injection for ME secondary to BRVO as a primary treatment. Twenty of the 34 eyes experienced recurrent or persistent ME after the first IVB. Nine of the 20 eyes (Group 1) were retreated with IVB combined with MLP. The remaining 11 eyes (Group 2) were retreated with IVB alone. Results. In Group 1, the postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved compared with the preoperative value at all follow-up visits, although no statistically significant improvement was observed at 6 months. In contrast, BCVA significantly improved from 0.53 to 0.40 at 6 months (P < 0.05) in Group 2. Conclusion. Combined therapy tended to have a smaller effect on visual acuity compared with IVB monotherapy.