We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the letter by Tas et al. and thank them for pointing out that one of the main predictive factors may be the duration of the macular edema until the first injection. We agree that the duration of the macular edema is a very important predictive factor. This opinion similar to that reported in several previous studies.Citation1–3 In our study,Citation4 we excluded macular edema of long duration (inclusion criteria for patients: duration of symptoms prior to initial examination <12 weeks), and it seems possible that if we had included longer durations, a relationship might have been found. After excluding macular edema of long duration, our findings demonstrate that the duration of symptom until initial examination is not a predictive factor associated with unfavorable outcomes (OR = 0.8, p = 0. 161) (Table 2).Citation4
We hope this provides some clarification for the readers.
References
- Jaissle GB, Szurman P, Feltgen N, Spitzer B, Pielen A, Rehak M, et al. Predictive factors for functional improvement after intravitreal bevacizumab therapy for macular edema due to branch retinal vein occlusion. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 2011;249:183–192
- Daien V, Navarre S, Fesler P, Vergely L, Villain M, Schneider C. Visual acuity outcome and predictive factors after bevacizumab for central retinal vein occlusion. Eur J Ophthalmol 2012;22:1013–1018
- Yoon YH, Kim HK, Yoon HS, Kang SW, Kim JG, Park KH, et al. Improved visual outcome with early treatment in macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusions: 6-month results of a Korean RVO study. Jpn J Ophthalmol 2014;58:146–154
- Zhao L, Li B, Feng K, Han L, Ma Z, Liu Y. Bevacizumab treatment for acute branch retinal vein occlusion accompanied by subretinal hemorrhage. Curr Eye Res 2014;20:1–5