A study of arteriovenous crossing patterns in branch retinal vein occlusion

Abstract

Introduction: Branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) almost always occurs at an arteriovenous crossing, where the artery and vein share a common adventitial sheath. Aim: The study was designed to evaluate the anatomic position of the crossing vessels at the site of occlusion in a case of BRVO. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 20 BRVO patients attending Ophthalmology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital during the period of September 2013 to August 2014. A semi structured questionnaire was used to evaluate the sociodemographic characters and co-morbidity among the patients. The fundus of the patients were examined with 90D lens under slit lamp and the fundus photographs were taken. Results: Twenty patients were considered in the study. Eleven were male and nine were female patients. Mean age of the male group was 50.09±4.94 years. Mean age of the female group was 49.33±3.77 years. In all, there were 21 eyes with branch retinal vein occlusion. Out of which 11 were left eyes, eight were right eyes and one patient was having occlusion in both the eyes. In BRVO cases, among 17(80.9%) eyes, the artery was anterior to the vein and in the remaining 4(19.1%) eyes the vein was anterior to the artery. No statistically significant difference was observed regarding the position of artery and vein in BRVO and control eyes (p=0.9). The superiotemporal occlusions were more in number 13 (61.9%) as compared to inferiotemporal occlusions in 8 (38.1%) eyes. Amajority 17(85%) of patients were hypertensive. Conclusion: In the present study the incidence of artery anterior to the vein was higher compare to vein anterior to the artery, the knowledge of which is useful to understand the patho-physiology and management of BRVO

Keywords

• arteriovenous crossing patterns
• branch retinal vein occlusion
• brvo