Abstract
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) compared to the traditional photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).
Methods:
A systematic search of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), VIP (Chongqing) and Wan Fang database was performed to assemble the randomized controlled trials (RCT) of IVR compared to PDT of the treatment on PCV. All outcomes were extracted and evaluated by two independent investigators using a designed extraction form. The RevMan 5.0 software was used to perform the Meta-analysis.
Results:
We found five RCT trials including a total of 294 cases were identified. During the follow-up months, compared to PDT the outcomes of IVR treatment significantly improved the eyesight, decreased the central retinal thickness (CRT) and reduced the invalidation rate. In the patients given IVR treatment, the visual acuity (LogMar) shifted from about 0.6 to 0.3 in the following 24 months and the improvement rate of visual acuity was over 60%. However, the visual acuity (LogMar) in the subjected received PDT showed relatively moderate change from about 0.6 to 0.5 but came back to the same level as before being given the treatment. This means that PDT had no significant effect on PCV in a long term, although there was about 25% of visual acuity improvement in one year after treatment.
Conclusions:
Our findings indicate that IVR has significant effect on improvement of visual acuity compared to PDT to treat patients with PCV. The analysis in our study involved 294 cases clearly documented that IVR can be used as a more effective therapy but not PDT to treat PCV for long term.