Intravitreal erythropoietin injection for the treatment of non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy
- PMID: 21131378
- DOI: 10.1136/bjo.2010.191627
Intravitreal erythropoietin injection for the treatment of non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy
Abstract
Aim: To evaluate the effect of intravitreal injection of erythropoietin for the treatment of non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
Methods: In this prospective interventional case series, 31 eyes of 31 patients with NAION were included. Patients received intravitreal injection of 2000 unit (0.2 cm³) of erythropoietin within 1 month of the onset of the disease. Visual acuity and visual field were recorded before injections and 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after the injections.
Results: The mean duration of symptoms before injections was 11.2 ± 5.5 days. Six months after injections, visual acuity improved in 27 eyes (87%), and 17 eyes (54.8%) had ≥ 3 lines of visual improvement. The mean preinjection visual acuity was 1.01 ± 0.88 logMAR and 0.58 ± 0.58 logMAR (p<0.001) at last follow-up. Visual acuity improvement occurred in 61.2% of patients within the first month. It followed a biphasic pattern in which there was continuous improvement up to 3 months and then started to deteriorate, although it remained significantly better than baseline until the last follow-up. No patient lost any lines of visual acuity compared with the baseline values. The mean of mean deviations of visual field was -19.6 ± 5.7 dB at baseline and -18.6 ± 6.3 dB (p = 0.6) at last follow-up.
Conclusions: Intravitreal injection of erythropoietin may be safe and effective in the treatment of NAION. The effect may last for a few months and then decline.
Comment in
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Treatment of non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy.Br J Ophthalmol. 2011 Nov;95(11):1617-8. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2011-300799. Epub 2011 Sep 27. Br J Ophthalmol. 2011. PMID: 21951569 No abstract available.
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