A RANDOMIZED PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF OUTPATIENT HEMODILUTION FOR CENTRALRETINAL VEIN OBSTRUCTION

Purpose: Central retinal vein obstruction (CRVO) has significant visua l morbidity. We prospectively evaluated an outpatient haemodilution (H D); regimen for CRVO. Methods: We recruited 59 patients with GRVO of l ess than three months' duration and visual acuity (VA) worse than or e qual to 6/9.5. Thirty patients underwent HD (packed cell volume of <0. 35, 12 weeks); there were 29 controls and follow-up was for six months . Results: Incidence rates for VA improvement (P=0.708) and rubeosis i ridis (P=0.619) between the two groups were not different. The inciden ce rate of VA deterioration was 5.315 times higher with HD (P=0.035, C ox Proportional analysis).Conclusion: This data does not support the p revious studies on haemodilution.