Safety and Efficacy of Intravitreal Bevacizumab (Avastin) for the Management of Branch and Hemiretinal Vein Occlusion

Abstract

Improvements in visual acuity and OCT outcomes were observed during the first year after intravitreal bevacizumab in patients with ME secondary to BRVO and HRVO.

Recurrence of macular edema associated with branch retinal vein occlusion after intravitreal bevacizumab

“…Additional IVB injection or retreatment was administered in most previous studies when recurrence of macular edema developed or the results of the initial IVB treatment were insufficient [4,6,18,24]. However, the definitive criteria for retreatment remain to be determined.…”

“…One of the main mediators exacerbating macular edema is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) [2]. Bevacizumab is an off-label anti-VEGF agent used in ophthalmology practice, and intravitreal injection of bevacizumab (IVB) results in prompt reduction of macular edema associated with recovery of vision in eyes with symptomatic macular edema secondary to BRVO [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. These effects seem to be equal or superior to those of other treatments, including laser photocoagulation [11] and intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide [12][13][14][15][16].…”

Combined treatment of intravitreal bevacizumab and intravitreal triamcinolone in patients with retinal vein occlusion: 6 months of follow-up

“…In our study, the initial visual acuity and subsequently the final visual acuity were worse than reported in both studies. Gregori et al [12] reported similar encouraging results with use of intravitreal bevacizumab in branch retinal vein occlusion. In our group of patients, we used both treatments on the same day in an attempt to reduce the frequency of injections and the increase in intraocular pressure after intravitreal triamcinolone.…”

“…Studies published on the use of intravitreal triamcinolone or intravitreal bevacizumab in patients with RVO have shown a beneficial response in both CRVO [9,10] and BRVO patients [12,13]. In some studies, intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide has been shown to be superior to intravitreal bevacizumab [9,13].…”

Intravitreal Bevacizumab Associated with Grid Laser Photocoagulation in Macular Edema Secondary to Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion

“…Therefore, several studies have been performed to assess ranibizumab (Lucentis ® , Genentech Inc.), bevacizumab, and pegaptanib (Macugen ® , Pfizer/ Eyetech Pharmaceutical) on ME in patients with BRVO (22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Most studies have been uncontrolled, nonrandomized short case series, and it is impossible to make reliable comparisons among them.…”