Comparison of treatment response to intravitreal injection of triamcinolone, bevacizumab and combined form in patients with central retinal vein occlusion: A randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND Central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), is the second-most common disorder after diabetic retinopathy that threatens the vision related to retinal vessels. One of the main reasons of vision loss is CRVO in acute and chronic forms. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the response to intravitreal injection of triamcinolone, bevacizumab, and a combined form in patients with CRVO. METHODS This study was a double-blinded randomized clinical trial conducted on patients with CRVO who were referred to the ophthalmology clinic of Urmia Imam Khomeini Hospital from May 2015 to May 2016. In total, ninety patients were divided into three groups using random numbers table. The first group received intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (IVT) for treatment of macular edema due to CRVO, the second group received intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) and the third group received a combination of IVT and IVB. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT) were recorded and analyzed using optical coherence tomography system. RESULTS In this study a total of 90 eyes were studied, 41 case (45.55%) were male and 49 cases (54.44%) were female. The mean age of patients was 68.41±8.32 years. The mean score of final visual acuity was 0.293±0.11 in the IVT group, 0.25±0.10 in the IVB group and 0.48±0.15 in the IVB+IVT group. The differences between groups considering final visual acuity was significant (p<0.001). The mean thickness of final macular was 383.33±97.70 micrometer in IVT group, 386.33±136.79 micrometers in IVB group and 307.33±110.79 micrometers in IVT+IVB group which were significant (p=0.014). CONCLUSION Using a combination of bevacizumab and triamcinolone in the treatment of central retinal vein occlusion compared with using each of them separately, had a better result and can be used as a solution in this disease. TRIAL REGISTRATION The trial was registered at the Thai Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.clinicaltrials.in.th) with the TCTR ID: TCTR20170612005. FUNDING The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.