Effect of Avastin on intraocular pressure before and after intravitreal injections

Introduction: Intravitreal Avastin (bevacizumab) injection is reportedly accompanied by ocular and systemic side-effects. Our enquiry assesses whether there are any differences between intraocular pressure (IOP) in baseline and on the day after injection in patients treated for retinal disease. Methods: In this experimental study, 82 eyes with retinal diseases that had indication for anti-VEGF and were treated with injections of intravitreal bevacizumab were taken as the case group, and 82 healthy eyes were considered as controls. The IOP was measured by non-contact tonometry in both the healthy eyes and the eyes with retinal diseases before and 24 hours after intervention. Data were analyzed by paired t test and independent t-test in SPSS 19.0 software. Significance level was set at P <0.05. Results: Results of the study showed that the mean IOP before injection was not significantly different in either groups (p=0.51). However, it was significantly lower after injection than before it in both case and control eyes (p<0.01). The mean IOP changes before and after infusion in the case and control eyes did not differ significantly (p=0.30). Conclusions: Our study did not find an increased IOP in bevacizumab-treated eyes when compared to fellow control eyes. Further studies with a greater sample size are needed to evaluate whether an increased number of ranibizumab injections is associated with IOP changes.