Topical bromfenac reduces the frequency of intravitreal bevacizumab in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To evaluate the effectiveness of topical bromfenac during treatment with intravitreal injections of bevacizumab (IVB) in eyes with macular oedema (ME) secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).

METHODS

Prospective interventional case-control study. 48 eyes of 44 patients with ME-BRVO who received 1.25 mg/0.05 mL of IVB showed temporary regression of ME. Additional IVB were given when ME recurred. 24 eyes received topical bromfenac, and the other 24 eyes received topical saline as control, four times a day during the clinical course of 48 weeks. The clinical course of foveal thickness (FT) as measured by optical coherence tomography, logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution visual acuity (VA), was monitored. The number of IVB was also recorded.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in FT, VA between the bromfenac-treated eyes and the control eyes at the initial and final examinations. The number of injections in bromfenac-treated eyes of 3.8±1.1 times was significantly less than in the control eyes of 4.8±1.2 times.

CONCLUSIONS

Although topical bromfenac during IVB therapy in eyes with ME secondary to BRVO did not affect the visual prognosis, it had the advantage of reducing the number of injections.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: UMIN 14929.