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Steroid injection may benefit some patients with macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion
Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging. 2008;39(6):446-454.
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Intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide improves visual acuity in some patients treated for macular edema due to retinal vein occlusions, but patients with central retinal vein occlusion may not benefit.
At 1 month after injection of the steroid into 172 patients with any type retinal vein occlusion, there was an improvement of mean logMAR acuity of 0.22, or about two Snellen lines. However, over the course of 12 months of follow-up, there were significant differences in changes in visual acuity by type of central retinal vein occlusion.
Patients with branch retinal vein occlusion or hemiretinal vein occlusion had stable vision out to 12 months. However, “patients with central retinal vein occlusions lost approximately 0.027 logMAR unit of visual acuity per month of follow-up, or approximately three Snellen lines between 1 and 12 months,” the study said.
“Only 41.3% of eyes received repeat injections, and it is possible that routine repeat injections at 4-month intervals for any persistent macular edema would have resulted in a more significant visual improvement in this patient population,” the study said.