Macular oedema in central retinal vein occlusion treated with intravitreal triamcinolone

PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone as treatment for macular oedema in central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective comparative case series of nine patients with macular oedema associated with CRVO (six non-ischaemic and three ischaemic) treated with an intravitreal injection of 4 mg triamcinolone acetonide, compared with 10 control (observation) patients (six non-ischaemic and four ischaemic). Examination included visual acuity (VA) tests and complete ophthalmic examinations at baseline, 1, 2 and 6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: The mean baseline VA was 20/161 for CRVO treatment group patients and 20/75 for observation group patients (p = 0.15). No significant difference in VA between CRVO treatment group patients (20/99) and controls (20/282) was observed at the final 6-month visit (p = 0.33). Subgroup analysis of the non-ischaemic CRVO treatment patients compared with the non-ischaemic controls also showed no significant difference at the 6-month visit (20/59 and 20/100, respectively; p = 0.20). At 6 months, five of the six non-ischaemic treated patients had VA >or= 20/100, compared with five of the six non-ischaemic control patients. All patients tolerated the procedure well, but there was a significant increase in intraocular pressure by the 2-month visit (p = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal injection of triamcinolone may not be effective for treatment of macular oedema in all CRVO patients or all non-ischaemic CRVO patients. A trend towards VA improvement was noted but was not statistically significant. Although our treatment was not hindered by severe complications, there was a significant increase in IOP in the 2 months following treatment.