Brown DM, Campochiaro PA, Bhisitkul RB et al.
Retinal Consultants of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
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[2] Sustained benefits from ranibizumab for macular edema following central retinal vein occlusion: twelve-month outcomes of a Phase III study.
Campochiaro PA, Brown DM, Awh CC et al.
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Editor’s note: In the first of these two studies, 397 patients with macular edema following branch retinal vein occlusion were randomized 1:1:1 to receive six monthly injections of ranibizumab 0.3 mg, ranibizumab 0.5 mg, or sham [1]. After 6 months, all patients received ranibizumab if their visual acuity (VA) was 20/40 or less, or their central macular thickness (CMT) was ≥250 µm. All patients improved by the 12-month follow-up with this regimen, with a mean 16 letters of improvement in the 0.3-mg group, 18 letters of improvement in the 0.5-mg group, and 12 letters of improvement in the sham group. The survival curves showed that the sham group had worse outcomes at 6 months, catching up slightly by 12 months but remaining below the level of the ranibizumab treatment arms in terms of logMAR VA. However, the ranibizumab groups had more severe systemic adverse events.