Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of single anti-VEGF therapy on retinal photoreceptor in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) using Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO).
Methods:
Fourteen eyes from fourteen patients with wet AMD or PCV were treated with intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR; seven patients) or intravitreal aflibercept (IVA; seven patients). All patients underwent a full ophthalmologic examination and imaging with prototype AO-SLO systems (Canon Inc) before and one month after anti-VEGF therapy. For each eye, images focused on the photoreceptor layer were recorded in an area apart from CNV lesion and a montage of AO-SLO images was created. Cone photoreceptors (cone density, cone spacing, and mosaic regularity of cone photoreceptors) in an area in the patients before and after anti-VEGF therapy were analyzed and compared.
Results:
All patients had no apparent adverse events. The analysis of AO-SLO images showed that there was no significant difference between before and after anti-VEGF therapy in cone density (before/after ratio=1.02), mosaic regularity of cone photoreceptors (before: 31.9±2.9%, after: 32.0±3.1%, p=0.9), and cone spacing (before: 0.54±0.05%, after: 0.54±0.06%, p=0.9).
Conclusions:
AO-SLO images showed that neither IVR nor IVA affect the photoreceptor cone densities, at least during the short term after the treatment.