Ophthalmological and medical long-term follow-up of patients with central retinal vein occlusion

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ophthalmological and medical aspects of patients with a history of central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) after a long-term follow-up. Design: This was a retrospective case–control study. Materials and Methods: Twenty-seven consecutive CRVO patients (29 eyes) were enrolled between April 2011 and April 2012, each participant underwent a comprehensive and detailed interview and also they had an ophthalmic examination with investigations such as color retinography and optical coherence tomography. Finally, medical and cardiologic examinations, including the laboratory analysis of blood specimens, were performed to all participants. Results: Our data confirm the significant association of CRVO with age (P = 0.025) and with ischemia (P = 0.022) and also treatment with low-molecular-weight heparin. Main risk factors of developing CRVO were as follows: hypertension (59.0%), dyslipidemia (48.0%), blood diseases (15.0%), and high body mass index (15.0%). There was no any significant association between all of the thrombophilic factors (laboratory parameters) and visual acuity (VA), except IgG anticardiolipin antibodies (P = 0.004). Two patients had myocardial infarction during the follow-up period. There was a parallel reduction of VA and foveal thickness during a long follow-up period. Conclusions: VA and central foveal thickness decreased during the follow-up period probably because of a progressive atrophy of the central retinal area, which suggest an early treatment of the macular edema prior an unfavorable evolution of the clinical situation, only one laboratory parameter had association with VA, small minority of patients developed serious cardiovascular events during the follow-up period after CRVO; these data suggest no overall association of CRVO with cardiovascular events.