Effect of Single Intravitreal Bevacizumab on Ophthalmic and Middle Cerebral Arterial Blood Flow in Retinopathy of Prematurity.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of a single intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection on blood flow parameters in the ophthalmic artery (OA) and middle cerebral artery (MCA) in infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This prospective and interventional study included 15 infants with ROP who were treated with IVB. Peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity, mean velocity (MV) and resistivity index were measured using pulse wave Doppler ultrasonography (Philips En Visor C, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) in the OA and MCA, before IVB injection and 1 day, 1 week and 1 month after IVB injection.

RESULTS

Measurements of PSV-OA, MV-OA and PSV-MCA showed significant changes after IVB treatment (p = 0.01, p = 0.02, p = 0.02, respectively). The PSV-OA measurements at 1 week and 1 month were significantly lower than the baseline PSV-OA measurement (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01, respectively). The MV-OA measurement was significantly lower at 1 month following IVB as compared to the baseline MV-OA measurement (p = 0.03). The PSV-MCA showed a significant decline 1 day after IVB injection (p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

The study demonstrated that IVB causes significant alterations in blood flow parameters in the OA and MCA predicted by Doppler ultrasonography in infants with ROP.