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Link between axial length, BRVO affirmed

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The chief ocular risk for developing branch retinal vein occlusion is a shorter axial length, an Israeli study concluded. The study confirms results of previous studies in this regard, the authors said.

Michaella Goldstein, MD, and colleagues at Tel Aviv University prospectively studied 24 consecutive patients with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) to determine what ocular parameters might predispose an eye to BRVO.

All patients had unilateral BRVO and a normal fellow eye with no previous ocular disease. No fellow eyes developed BRVO during the course of follow-up. In 18 patients, BRVO involved the superior-temporal branch; in four patients, the inferotemporal branch was involved, and in two patients a nasal vein. The mean patient age was 62.4 years.

Both eyes of each patient underwent a complete ophthalmic exam, including slit-lamp biomicroscopy, gonioscopy, IOP measurement by applanation tonometry and fundus examination.

The mean axial length was 22.82 mm in the affected eyes and 23.05 mm in the fellow eyes. The mean axial length in the affected eyes was significantly shorter than in the fellow eyes (P = .037).

Subjective refraction was not statistically significantly different between the affected and fellow eyes. No significant difference was seen in mean keratometric readings between the affected and unaffected eyes. Nor was there a statistically significant difference in mean IOP between the two groups of eyes.

Previous studies have linked BRVO to axial length, but have not analyzed axial length, spherical equivalent and keratometry readings in the same group of patients, the study authors assert.

“Further studies are needed to confirm the importance of ocular parameters on the pathogenesis of venous vascular occlusion,” the authors report in the European Journal of Ophthalmology.