Central Retinal Vein Occlusion

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about CRVO

Our data on CRVO, giving full, scientifically based information on these questions, can be found elsewhere.³ Very briefly, following are some answers:

1. "What is the risk of the same thing happening to the other eye and how soon?" The cumulative chance of developing the same type of CRVO in the other eye (after the onset of first episode) is: for non-ischemic CRVO, 6.6% within 2 years, and for ischemic CRVO 5.6% at 2.8 years.
2. "What is the risk of recurrence of the same thing in the same eye once the CRVO has resolved?" The cumulative chance of this for non-ischemic CRVO is 0.9% within 2.5 years from onset and 2.2% within 5 years.
3. "What are the chances of a non-ischemic CRVO changing to ischemic CRVO, and after how long?" It is 9.4% within 6 months and 12.6% within 18 months from onset of non-ischemic CRVO. When this risk was categorized by age at onset of non-ischemic CRVO, the cumulative proportion of conversion in persons 65 or older was 13.2% at 6 months and 18.6% at 18 months, while in persons 45 to 64 years it was 6.7% and 8.1% respectively.
4. "What is the age distribution at first onset of CRVO? Does CRVO occur in young persons? - and, if so, how frequently?" No age is immune to CRVO; I have seen patients as young as 14 years of age with CRVO. Ischemic CRVO develops significantly more often than non-ischemic CRVO in persons aged 65 years or older (ischemic: 67% vs. non-ischemic: 44%). However, 18% of non-ischemic CRVO and 7% of ischemic CRVO in our study were seen in persons under the age of 45 years.