Characteristics of Macular Edema in Behcet Disease after Intravitreal Bevacizumab Injection

To investigate the effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection on macular edema (ME) secondary to Behcet's disease.

This prospective case series included 15 patients with bilateral ME due to Behcet's disease. Intravitreal bevacizumab was injected into the more severely involved eye; the contralateral eye was evaluated as the control. Patients were followed up with comprehensive ocular examination, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescein angiography (FA) for a minimum of 6 months by a single ophthalmologist.

Patients with a mean age of 30.6 ± 7.4 years received a mean number of 3.3 IVB injections during the 6 months. The mean preinjection vision was 0.6 ± 0.3 and 0.4 ± 0.4 LogMAR in the case and control groups, respectively, with no significant improvement at 6 months. Mean central foveal thickness was 375.3 ± 132.1 and 307.2 ± 84.5 μm in the case and control groups, respectively, and these changed to 401 ± 199.9 (P = 0.65) and 307.7 ± 82.8 μm (P = 0.73) at month 6, respectively. A statistically nonsignificant improvement in ME was observed during the first 3 months in the case group. However, it did not persist up to month 6 on an as-needed basis. IVB injections caused a disproportionate decrease in the thickness of macular subfields. A reduction in disc leakage was observed on FA (P = 0.058). Logistic regression analysis revealed no statistically significant predictive factor for an improvement in visual acuity (VA) and a reduction in foveal thickness.

During a 6-month period, IVB injections based on an as-needed protocol provided no statistically significant improvement in VA and ME.