This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Studies show bevacizumab improves vision in CRVO patients

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Intravitreal injections of bevacizumab appear effective for improving vision and central retinal thickness in eyes with macular edema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion, according to findings from two separate studies.

In the first study, Siegfried G. Priglinger, MD, and colleagues in Munich prospectively evaluated the effects of repeated intravitreal injections of 1.25 mg of Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) in 46 patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO).

At 6 months mean follow-up, investigators found that visual acuity had improved from an average of 20/250 at baseline to 20/80 (P < .001), with an average gain of 13.9 ETDRS letters. Also, central retinal thickness had decreased from an average of 535 µm at baseline to 323 µm, the authors reported.

Patients with ischemic CRVO had a significantly lower visual acuity compared with patients with nonischemic CRVO (P < .001). However, both patient groups had similar gains in visual acuity, and the improvement in vision was independent of symptom duration, according to the study.

In the second study, Jason Hsu, MD, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania reviewed outcomes for 30 eyes of 29 patients treated with bevacizumab for macular edema resulting from CRVO.

The investigators found that visual acuity had improved from an average of 20/394 at baseline to 20/237 at 1 month follow-up in 26 patients (P = .04) and to 20/187 at 2 months in 21 patients (P = .008), according to the study.

Mean visual acuity had improved from 20/228 at baseline to 20/157 at 3 months follow-up in 15 patients (P = .05) and from 20/313 to 20/213 at 4 months in 11 patients (P = .03), the authors reported.

Neither ocular nor systemic adverse reactions were observed, they noted.

"No significant changes in visual acuity were found after 4 months, though the number of patients in this group was small. Duration of treatment effect following an injection appears to be limited to 2 months for most patients," the study authors said.

"Larger clinical studies with long-term follow-up will be necessary to better elicit the best regimen for this therapy," they said.

Both studies are published in the October issue of Retina.