Baseline Choroidal Blood Flow Imbalance as a Predictive Factor for Macular Edema Recurrence Secondary to Branch...

To evaluate the roles of choroidal blood flow (CBF) and choroidal thickness (CT) as predictors of macular edema recurrence in patients with treatment-naive non-ischemic branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) after intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) injection.

Sixteen eyes from sixteen patients with treatment-naive non-ischemic BRVO treated with IVR, once initially and then as needed, were included in the study. CBF and CT in the subfovea, occlusive, and non-occlusive regions were measured via laser speckle flowgraphy and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography over 12 months.

Baseline CT was significantly greater in the occlusive region (335 ± 72.1 µm) than in the non-occlusive region (274 ± 36.7 µm, p = 0.028). CT in the occlusive region was reduced significantly after 1 week (p = 0.008), but CBF did not change significantly after IVR throughout the follow-up period (p > 0.05). The occlusive/non-occlusive region CBF ratio at baseline was significantly associated with the number of IVR injections over 12 months (mean 2.63) in patients with BRVO (p = 0.048).

Baseline CBF imbalance in eyes with treatment-naive BRVO may indicate the recurrence of macular edema after ranibizumab therapy.