Angiographic Risk Features of Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion Onset as Determined by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

PURPOSE: Examine associations between the vasculature at arteriovenous (AV) crossings and the onset of branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). METHODS: We included 78 patients with major BRVO, 35 patients with macular BRVO, and 110 controls without BRVO and determined the vessel positions at AV crossings, where the first- or second-order branches of the retinal veins associate, using a viewing angle of 12 × 12 mm(2) in optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). RESULTS: We reviewed 1349 and 1276 AV crossings in BRVO patients and control subjects, respectively. The proportions of venous overcrossing were 26.5%, 28.6%, and 26.8% at non-causative crossings in BRVO eyes, non-BRVO fellow eyes, and unaffected control eyes, respectively; however, the rate of venous overcrossings at the causative crossings was 45.1%. In OCTA analyses, we divided the branches into macular- or non-macular veins. The rate of venous overcrossing was 52.5% at causative crossings in major BRVO but was 28.6% in macular BRVO. Odds ratios for whether venous overcrossing was a risk factor for BRVO were 3.09 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.96–4.88) and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.44–2.00) for non-macular veins and macular veins, respectively. The patients with major BRVO caused by venous overcrossing were younger than patients for whom the cause was arterial overcrossing (P < 0.001). The onset of macular BRVO did not differ between crossing patterns at causative crossings (P = 0.60). CONCLUSIONS: In eyes with BRVO, venous overcrossing was a common angiographic feature at causative crossings and might be a risk factor for major BRVO onset.