Management of retinal vein occlusion.

Recent research into the relationship between retinal venous occlusion and general vascular disorders has shown that retinal venous occlusion seems to be related only to systemic hypertension. The role of systemic hemorrheologic parameters in the pathophysiology of venous occlusion is a controversial one. Of the various treatment modalities, isovolemic hemodilution has been found to improve retinal perfusion, but the treatment must be repeated about once a week for at least 2 months. The presence of tissue hypoxia in areas of ischemic venous occlusion has been confirmed by measurements of preretinal oxygen pressure in experimental venous occlusion. Reduced preretinal oxygen pressure in these experimental cases normalized after retinal scatter photocoagulation. The inhibiting role of posterior vitreous detachment on posterior segment neovascularization and the fact that panretinal photocoagulation has a better effect on anterior than on posterior segment neovascularization have been evaluated in clinical studies.