Abstract
Purpose: :
To investigate the vascular changes in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) 1 year after ranibizumab therapy.
Methods: :
Fifty-one consecutive eyes of 50 Japanese patients with symptomatic PCV who had been untreated previously received one intravitreal injection of 0.5 mg ranibizumab monthly for 3 months followed by a PRN reinjection schedule. All patients were followed using fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies with the Heidelberg Retina Angiograph. The indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) findings were compared among baseline, 3 months, and 1 year after the primary injection.
Results: :
The mean (± standard deviation) number of injections for 1 year was 4.0 ± 1.0. The mean visual acuity (VA) improved significantly from 0.67 to 0.41 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (P=0.001, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test). The baseline ICGA images showed polyps and abnormal choroidal vessels in all eyes except two in which the abnormal choroidal vessels were not detected because of retinal and subretinal hemorrhages. ICGA showed that the polyps resolved in 13 (25%) eyes 3 months after the primary injection and in 24 (47%) eyes 1 year after the primary injection. However, the abnormal choroidal vessels remained in all eyes in which the abnormal choroidal vessels were detected at baseline. The greatest linear dimension (GLD) changed from 3,542±1,455 µm to 3,520±1305 µm. The GLD 1 year after the primary injection increased more than 10% and 20% compared to baseline in 14 (29%) and six (12%) eyes, respectively, and decreased more than 10% and 20% compared to baseline in eight (16%) eyes and two (4%) eyes, respectively.
Conclusions: :
Ranibizumab therapy improves VA in eyes with PCV. Although polyps tended to improve throughout 1 year of treatment, abnormal choroidal vessels remained in all eyes and tended to increase in some eyes.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration