Current Best Clinical Practices—Management of Retinal Vein Occlusion

Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is the second most common cause of vision loss from retinal vascular diseases in adults in the United States. Visual loss arises as a result of a host of factors, including macular ischemia and macular edema. Primary antivascular endothelial growth factor therapy is the current standard of care, with level I evidence demonstrating sustained visual gains up to 2 years after treatment in both branch and central RVO. Prompt antivascular endothelial growth factor therapy is important because delays in treatment yield lesser visual gains. Steroid therapy also improves visual outcomes in RVO but with higher rates of adverse effects, including cataract formation and ocular hypertension. Although the treatment burden can be high, these drugs have collectively revolutionized treatment outcomes in this disease state, providing improved visual outcomes over previous laser therapies.