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Purpose: To purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcomes of intravitreal bevacizumab injection for a specific subgroup of ROP cases with immature macula. Materials and Methods: ROP cases with immature macula who needed treatment were included. Twentyfive eyes of 14 patients received 0.5 mg/0.02 ml bevacizumab intravitreally from June 2011 to February 2012. Informed consent was obtained from all families. Results: Mean gestational age was 29 weeks (26-31 weeks). Mean gestational age at the time of injection was 35 weeks (32- 37 weeks). Mean follow-up time was 7 months. Twelve eyes had zone I plus disease, 8 eyes had zone I neovascularization and 5 eyes had zone II stage 3 with plus disease. Macula was immature with incomplete vascularization in all eyes. One patient died of systemic infection at week 60. Two eyes needed additional laser photocoagulation. ROP regressed in 17 eyes without further treatment and development of normal retinal vascularization was observed during the follow-up period. Conclusion: Intravitreal bevacizumab injection for selected cases of ROP is an effective treatment regiment. Ocular and systemic complications should be evaluated with long term clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term visual acuity and anatomical results of intravitreal bevacizumab injection for macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion. Materials and Methods: Twenty-three eyes of 23 patients with macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion who had intravitreal bevacizumab injections and had at least 12 months of follow-up were included. Patient charts were reviewed retrospectively, and fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography data were evaluated. Patients who had macular ischemia, optic nerve neovascularization, retinal neovascularization, treatment for macular edema in the 6 months before bevacizumab treatment, vitreoretinal surgery and cataract surgery in the 6 months prior to bevacizumab treatment were excluded. Results: Twenty-three eyes of 23 patients with a mean age of 58.5 (30-81) years were included. Mean follow-up time was 14 months (12-22). Preinjection mean macular thickness was 610 u (300-930 u), mean best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 1.1 logMAR (0.3-2 logMAR). At the last visit, mean macular thickness was 240 u and BCVA was 0.6 logMAR (0.0-1.6 logMAR). The comparison of preinjection and last visit values of mean macular thickness and BCVA was statistically sig-nificant (p<0.05). BCVA was improved by a mean 0.5 logMAR. During the mean 14 months follow-up period, the injection per eye value was only 2 (1-6). Conclusion: Most of the cases (65%) had long-term anatomical and functional improvement with single or multiple intravitreal bevacizumab injections. A minority of the cases did not improve even with multiple injections. Unresponsive macular edema cases might benefit from other intravitreal agents or vitrectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate patients with poor response to one-dose intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Materials and Methods: Sixty-seven eyes of 64 patients treated with intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) for neovascular AMD were evaluated retrospectively. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) results, and fluorescein angiography findings were reviewed. No improvement in BCVA were defined as poor response. Patients with poor response and good response to one dose IVB treatment were compared. Intragroup assessments were done by Wilcoxon, intergroup assessments were done with Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: Fifty-one percent of eyes had poor response (n=34). Pretreatment mean BCVA was significantly better in poor response group compared to good response group (p=0.012). Lesion area, lesion type, and OCT characteristics were not different between groups. Although statistically not significant, pigment epithelium detachment was more frequent in poor response group compared to good response group. (44%, 27%, respectively, p=0.151) Conclusion: Whether there is a criterion to predict the outcome of an anti-VEGF treatment for neovascular AMD is an important question among retina specialists. Although this study evaluates only the response for one dose IVB treatment, it shows the importance of pretreatment BCVA as a criterion. Studies with long term follow-up and larger sample size will be able to give us more precise results to predict the outcome of anti-VEGF treatments for neovascular AMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal pigment epithelium tears, first described as a complication of age-related macular degeneration, were reported to occur following the recently popularized intravitreal bevacizumab injection for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. In this article we reviewed the cases of retinal pigment epithelium tears following intravitreal bevacizumab injection for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. We also included a case report from our retina clinic. We assessed clinical features, etiologies, imaging characteristics, and pathogenesis of retinal pigment epithelium tears and their relationship with intravitreal bevacizumab treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the anatomical and visual responses to intravitreal bevacizumab injection (IVB) monotherapy and the combination of IVB with photodynamic therapy (PDT) in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study that involved treatment of naive eyes with neovascular AMD. The eyes were divided into 2 groups: the 1st group received nd only IVB and the 2 group received IVB+PDT. An activity score (AS) was given to each lesion during all visits. Student's t test and chi-square test were used for the comparison of parameters. Results: A total of 53 eyes were involved in the study. Mean follow-up time was 12.3 months. There was no significant difference with respect to lesion type, visual acuity, or central foveal thickness between the groups before treatment. After treatment AS decreased significantly in the two groups (p<0.05). Visual acuity was the same or increased in 92.5% of the eyes in group 1 and in 88.5% of the eyes in group 2 (p>0.05). The mean number of IVB/eye was 2.7 in group 1 and 2.6 in group 2 (p>0.05). Conclusion: IVB+PDT combination therapy seems not to be superior to IVB monotherapy with respect to visual acuity or retreatment needs in neovascular AMD. An activity scoring-guided strategy may help to determine the need for retreatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]