Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate whether the choroidal thickness (CT) outside the macula is affected after intravitreal ranibizumab injections (IVR) in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods:
Peripapillary and subfoveal CT were measured on the images obtained by spectral domain optical coherence tomography from 39 eyes of neovascular AMD patients and 39 age-matched controls. The patients were treated with 0.5 mg IVRs monthly for 3 months, and retreated as needed. Peripapillary CT was measured at four locations (superior, nasal, inferior and temporal area) at baseline, 3 months and 6 months.
Results:
The mean peripapillary and subfoveal baseline CTs (153.3 ± 45.3 μm and 228.6 ± 78.6 μm) were not different from those of controls (149.0 ± 42.3 μm and 221.4 ± 54.1 μm; P = 0.665 and P = 0.639, respectively). Among peripapillary CTs, only the temporal peripapillary CT decreased from baseline (167.1 ± 54.5 μm) to at 3 months (159.4 ± 50.8 μm, P = 0.010), and it was sustained at 6 months (160.6 ± 49.6, P = 0.026). However, superior, nasal and inferior peripapillary CT did not show significant changes after IVRs. Subfoveal CT decreased at 3 (213.8 ± 75.8 μm, P < 0.001) and 6 months (215.1 ± 72.8 μm, P = 0.002).
Conclusions:
Change in peripapillary CT after IVR was limited to the macular area. This result may suggest that IVR does not affect CT outside of the macula of eyes in patients with neovascular AMD.