Treatment of neovascularization secondary to branch retinal vein obstruction

Fifty patients who developed preretinal or papillary neovascularization following tributary vein occlusion were treated by laser photocoagulation. Areas of non-perfused retina within the distribution of the obstructed vein were identified by fluorescein angiography and ablated using moderately intense laser photocoagulation burns. In forty-six patients there was satisfactory atrophy of both preretinal and papillary neovascularization without further complication or vitreous haemorrhage. Four patients who responded poorly to laser photocoagulation did so either because areas of ischaemic retina were inadequately treated or because they were unamenable to laser photocoagulation e.g., sited in the parafoveal region. Ablation of ischaemic perimacular retina together with associated intraretinal microvascular abnormalities aided the resolution of macular oedema in 19 patients. No post-operative complications could be attributed to laser photocoagulation excepting the development of fine perimacular retinal folds in one patient.