Intravitreal triamcinolone as primary treatment of cystoid macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion

PURPOSE: To describe six patients treated with intravitreal triamcinolone (IVT) as primary therapy for cystoid macular edema (CME) secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). METHODS: Retrospective case series. RESULTS: The age of the patients ranged from 53 years to 87 years (mean, 66 years). The time between BRVO and treatment with IVT ranged from 2.0 months to 4.7 months (mean, 3.5 months). Pretreatment visual acuity ranged from 20/40 to 6/200 (mean, 20/166). Length of follow-up ranged from 107 days to 175 days (mean, 149.5 days). Final visual acuity ranged from 20/40 to 3/200 (mean, 20/137). Three of six eyes showed improvement in vision. All three patients who did not have vision improvement were treated with a second injection. At the final follow-up visit, all six eyes had improved vision from baseline. Five (83.3%) of six eyes showed an improvement of > or = 2 lines of vision. One patient had a postoperative rise in intraocular pressure requiring a trabeculectomy. Final visual acuity in the 6 eyes ranged from 20/200 to 20/30 (mean, 20/106). CONCLUSION: IVT may be of potential use in treating CME due to BRVO, as either a primary or an adjunctive treatment modality. A prospective, randomized trial to clarify this role is warranted.