Intravitreal bevacizumab for treatment of uveitic macular edema

To evaluate the short-term safety and efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab for the treatment of cystoid macular edema (CME) secondary to uveitis.

Retrospective, noncomparative, interventional case series.

Thirteen patients undergoing treatment for recalcitrant uveitic macular edema at one referral center.

Charts of patients who received one 2.5-mg intravitreal injection of bevacizumab in one eye were reviewed for clinical information including best-corrected Snellen visual acuity (VA), examination findings, optical coherence tomography (OCT) results, and fluorescein angiography results. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to calculate probability success rates. The statistical significance of change in mean retinal thickness and VA was assessed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.

Assessments of changes in best-corrected Snellen VA and OCT retinal thickness were made.

Six (46.15%) patients had a decrease in foveal thickness at the end of the follow-up, whereas 5 (38.4%) patients had an improvement of VA by > or =2 lines 84 days or more after the injection. Mean retinal thickness showed a significant decrease over the follow-up (P<0.02). The change in mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution VA over the follow-up was not significant (P>0.05). Survival analysis showed that the probability of any improvement in VA increased progressively starting at 6 weeks and reached 81% at 14 weeks. No significant ocular or systemic adverse effects were observed.

These results suggest that a single intravitreal injection of bevacizumab is well tolerated and is associated with short-term improvement in VA and decreased OCT retinal thickness in a considerable proportion of patients with uveitic CME resistant to conventional therapy. Further evaluation of intravitreal bevacizumab for uveitic CME in controlled randomized studies is warranted.