This reference book is designed to enable an ophthalmologist to make diagnostic and treatment decisions on the basis of the available scientific evidence. This is a very comprehensive book covering all aspects of central retinal vein occlusions including basics, clinical features, investigations and different past, present and future treatment modalities with evidence.
In the preface it is mentioned that the goal of this book is to bring the evidence regarding central retinal vein occlusions together into a resource useful for clinicians, students, residents and fellows for self-study or a formal course. There is no doubt that this book has achieved its target.
There are 16 chapters. The first five chapters cover ‘basic’ and ‘genetic’ and are extremely detailed. In the chapter on ‘epidemiology’, prevalence is given in graphs which are easy to understand. All the chapters are very well illustrated and include beautiful images, figures, graphs, flow charts and tables. Abbreviations in every chapter are collected in tables for references. However, there are very minor mistakes of spelling.
The clinical chapters are clearly written, and cover clinical signs, diagnosis with the help of investigations, especially monochromatic fundus photographs, frames from the different phases of fluorescein angiogram, Montage colour fundus photographs, optical coherence tomograms, ultrasounds pictures and visual field examinations with coloured arrows are extremely helpful for the reader. The clinical photographs and illustrations are of high quality and contribute greatly to the text. At the end of each chapter there is a summary of key points, as well as an extensive list of references. The book covers all the important techniques that are currently available and includes both clinical and research aspects.
Many important randomised trials are discussed in full detail, for example, meta-analysis of three randomised clinical trials comparing subcutaneous injections of low molecular weight heparin versus aspirin for acute retinal vein occlusion. Different studies, including the Beaver Dam Eye Study, Beijing Eye Study and Blue Mountain Eye Study, are discussed in detail.
In the chapter on the treatment of retinal vein occlusion every treatment option is discussed in detail with references to different international trials / studies, highlighting the cost-effectiveness, advantages and disadvantages of the treatment.
