Long-term outcomes of anti-VEGF treatment of macular oedema due to retinal vein occlusions

Abstract

Purpose: retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is classified as either branch (BRVO) or central (CRVO) RVO. The gold standard treatment for macular oedema (MO) secondary to RVO is intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections. Our study aimed to compare ranibizumab and aflibercept outcomes over a maximum follow-up of five years.

Methods: this retrospective study assessed treatment-naïve RVO patients. Active disease was treated with three loading injections followed by a pro-re-nata (PRN) regimen of an anti-VEGF agent. Visual outcomes and injection frequency were analyzed, with patients stratified according to RVO subtype, anti-VEGF agent used, baseline vision, and age.

Results: 316 CRVO-affected eyes and 467 BRVO-affected eyes were analysed. Visual benefits between different treatments did not significantly differ, except in year 1 in ranibizumab-treated BRVO eyes. However, aflibercept-treated CRVO and BRVO eyes required significantly fewer injections during the follow up period. Furthermore, our results confirm that younger patients achieve better visual outcomes with fewer intravitreal injections. Overall, half of our patients did not require further injections after 1 year from diagnosis.

Conclusion: the results demonstrate that anti-VEGF treatment of RVO benefits vision for up to 5 years. Our findings are the first to suggest that compared to ranibizumab, fewer aflibercept injections may be required over five years follow up. Prospective randomised trials are needed to confirm this, alongside further attention to OCT scan features and the effect of patient demographics on treatment outcomes.

Keywords: Anti-VEGF therapy; intravitreal injections; macular oedema; retinal vein occlusion.