Purpose:

To compare the efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide(IVTA) and intravitreal bevacizumab(IVB) on the visual acuity of the patients with macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO).

Methods:

We injected into the eyes of 12 patients 4 mg/0,1 ml IVTA and 12 other patients 1.25 mg/0.05 ml IVB for the treatment of BRVO. Patients underwent Snellen visual acuity testing before, on the first week, on the first and on the third month after the injection. There after the best corrected visual acuity(BCVA) was converted to logMAR values. The change in BCVA was measured as subtraction of the value of BCVA before the injection from the value after the injection. Two groups were compared to each other according to the values of BCVA on the first week, the first month and the third month.

Results:

BCVA in the IVTA group was 0.87±0.56, whereas in the IVB group it was 1.35±0.99 being statistically not significant(p=0.059). In the IVTA group BCVA measured on the first week, first month and the third month were respectively 0.66±0.35, 0.57±0.62 and 0.56±0.62, the changes in BCVA were statistically significant(p=0.020,p=0.001,p=0.001). On the other hand in the IVB group BCVA measured on the first week, first month and the third month were 1.08±0.88, 0.91±0.76 and 1.01±0.88. In the IVB group there was no statistically significant change in the first week measurements of BCVA but in the first and the third month measurements there was significant increase in BCVA (p=0.056,p=0.010,p=0.045). There was no significant difference between two groups according to BCVA on the first week, first and third month (p=0.649,p=0.476,p=0.209)

Conclusion:

In this study we observed increase in BCVA after the injection of IVTA and IVB in patients with macular edema secondary to BRVO and also we can conclude that there was no difference in the increase of BCVA in the two groups.

Keywords: Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion, Intravitreal Triamcinolone Acetonide, Intravitreal Bevacizumab