We attempt to distinguish the patterns of macular edema due to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and to find correlations between the 24 hour short-term and three month long-term therapeutic effects of an intravitreal bevacizumab injection.

Forty-four eyes in 44 patients with macular edema due to BRVO underwent an intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Ophthalmoscopic examinations, fluorescein angiographic evaluations, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) examinations performed made before the injections, after 24 hours, and at one, two and three month follow-ups. OCT yielded three patterns of macular edema: diffuse macular edema, cystoid macular edema, and serous retinal detachment.

Macular edema significantly improved 24 hours after the injections. The change in central macular thickness after 24 hours had a statistically significant correlation with the three month central macular thickness (Pearson correlation, r =0.757 p =0.011). Cystoid macular edema showed better improvement than the others after 24 hours, but no differences after three months.

OCT treatment 24 hours after an intravitreal bevacizumab injection was found to be highly correlated to the long term prognosis. It is therefore useful in determining therapy and predicting the progress of macular edema in patients with BRVO.