Treatment of macular edema in vein occlusion

Abstract Purpose Recent multicenter trials provided us with interesting results of macular edema linked to vein occlusion. Until now, the standard of care treatment of macular edema due to branch vein occlusion remained grid laser in contrast with central vein occlusion where the absence of treatment was still recommended. , Methods SCORE, GENEVA, BRAVO and CRUISE studies recently provided us with the following results: SCORE study found triamcinolone to be interesting to treat macular edema due to central vein occlusion but not from branch occlusion. GENEVA study assessed the effect of a delivery system of dexamethasone to treat macular edema due to venous occlusion whatever the clinical form with an improvement of visual acuity. CRUISE and BRAVO studies assessed the effect of ranubizumab which was found to improve the visual acuity of macular edema due to either central or branch vein occlusions. GALLILEO and COPERNICUS reported recent results with another antiangiogenic agents with interesting results but still unpublished. Results At this stage, to treat macula edema in vein occlusion, we have to consider the characteristics of the patients to decide which treatment should be used: lens status, increased ocular pressure, delay before treatment of the disease, clinical form of vein occlusion as well as the predictable acceptance of repeated injections by the patients. Conclusion There is an urgent need for comparative studies but these studies should consider separately branch and central vein occlusions. Commercial interest