Tremendous result of bevacizumab in malignant hypertensive retinopathy

• Main Author: Ali M Al-Halafi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2015-01-01
• Series: Oman Journal of Ophthalmology
• Subjects: Bevacizumab (avastin); hypertensive retinopathy; optic disc edema
• Online Access: http://www.ojoonline.org/article.asp?issn=0974-620X;year=2015;volume=8;issue=1;spage=61;epage=63;aulast=Al-Halafi

Signs of hypertensive retinopathy are common and are correlated with elevated blood pressure. Patients who have swelling of both optic discs and very high blood pressure (i.e., malignant retinopathy) need urgent antihypertensive treatment. A patient was reported with malignant hypertensive retinopathy who recovered promptly following single intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg/0.05 mL) was injected in two eyes of a patient having malignant hypertensive retinopathy with optic disc edema, macular edema, and retinal exudates. A complete ophthalmic examination, including the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness on optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescein angiography (FAG), was performed before and after the treatments. Two eyes in a patient received a single intravitreal injection of bevacizumab had improvement of macular edema on OCT at 1 month and decreased fluorescein leakage on FAG 3 months after the treatment, which led to improvements in the BCVA both eyes. The results suggest that intravitreal bevacizumab injections might be a useful and safe adjunctive treatment of malignant hypertensive retinopathy, in addition to proper medical management of malignant hypertension.