Effects of IVB on the area of capillary nonperfusion in BRVO eyes

Occurrence of, a significantly increased area of capillary nonperfusion is significantly low in eyes with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) after administration of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB), according to a study published in Retina.

Dr Terui Takayuki et al., Department of Ophthalmology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan, studied 58 eyes of 58 patients with macular oedema secondary to BRVO. One month before and one month after IVB, fluorescein angiography was performed on all patients. Early-phase fluorescein angiography imaging was used to measure the area of capillary nonperfusion and blockages of the fluorescence by the retinal haemorrhage were determined with retinal photographs.

Before IVB 37 of the 58 eyes did not show any signs of capillary nonperfusion and after one month of IVB 3 of the 37 eyes developed capillary nonperfusion. The area of nonperfusion in these 3 eyes was 0.13, 0.47 and 0.60 optic disc area (DA).

Before IVB 21 of the 58 eyes had capillary nonperfusion and the mean area was 3.45 ± 4.66 DA before the IVB and 3.45 ± 5.19 DA 1 month after the IVB.

Only one eye of the 58 studied presented with an increase in the area of capillary nonperfusion after IVB. The incidence of an increase in capillary nonperfusion area post IVB treatment is significantly low in eyes with BRVO.