Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate the impact of French summer vacation on Visual Acuity and Spectral Domain-Optical CoherenceTomography of patients treated by Intravitreal Ranibizmab undergoing wet AMD<br /> Settings and Design:Single center prospective study.
Methods:
We review the charts the[NM1] charts of all consecutives eyes with exudative AMD on hold of intravitreal ranibizumab 0.5 mg injection at the department of ophthalmology at Pitié salpetrière hospital between July 2013 and September 2014. The study baseline evaluation for all patients before holiday (June) consisting of the BCVA Evaluation Diabetic Retinopathy Study charts Treatment (ETDRS) and an ophthalmologic examination that included slit lamp biomicroscopy, fundus examination, FA, ICGA, and SD OCT (Cirrus). All Subjects are treated with as-needed dosing (pro ne rata, PRN) regiment. At 2 months (final visit) from baseline, each patient underwent an ophthalmic examination, including assessment of BCVA using ETDRS charts, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, fundus biomicroscopy, and Spectral Domain Optical Coherence .Criteria for reinjection were visual acuity loss of more than five ETDRS letters, and/or increase of central retinal thickness, sub-retinal fluid, intra-retinal fluid, pigment epithelium detachment. If reinjection criteria were not met<br /> <br /> <br />
Results:
The mean visual acuity change was -0.071± 0.149 in group A and +0.003± 0.178 in group B. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean visual acuity change between the two groups (p=0.041, Mann whitney test) .At the second visit (2 months after pre-holidays visit), 61.8 % of patients in group A had SRF and/or intraretinal cysts, and only 27.6% of patients in group B had persitance of SRF and/or intraretinal cysts. There was a significant difference in the persistence of fluid between the two groups (p=0.007, chi square test).
Conclusions:
Thus, this cases series demonstrated the impact of holidays on visual acuity in patients treated with ranibizumab for AMD, which in spite of their treatment still leave in vacation. Therefore ,It is important to convey the message to patients and their physicians for the follow-up treatment, despite their need of holidays.<br />