Abstract
Purpose: :
To compare the therapeutic efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) combined with reduced-fluence photodynamic therapy (RF-PDT) to that of IVR alone for eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).
Methods: :
Fifty naïve eyes of 50 consecutive patients with PCV were studied. Nineteen eyes of 19 patients had three monthly IVR combined with RF-PDT (combined group) and 31 eyes of 31 patients had three monthly IVR alone (IVR group). Additional treatments were given when needed. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central foveal thickness (CFT) before and after 1, 3, and 6 months were compared between the two groups. The complications were compared between the two groups.
Results: :
At 6 months, the mean BCVA was significantly improved from 0.571 to 0.414 (P=0.006) in the combined group, but not significant in the IVR group (P=0.066). The CFT was significantly improved in both groups at 6 months (P<0.001), but at 1 and 3 months, there was a significant difference between two groups (P=0.012, P<0.001, respectively). Additional treatments required less frequently in the combined group during the 6 months follow-up (P=0.018); 1 patient in combined group (5.2%) and 11 patients in the IVR group (35.4%). Subretinal hemorrhage developed in 1 patient in the combined group and 2 patients in the IVR group, and vitreous hemorrhage in none of the patients in the combined group and in 1 patient in IVR group.
Conclusions: :
Combination of IVR and RF-PDT for the treatment of PCV had a significantly better early response in the CFT improvement and required fewer additional treatments than IVR alone.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: outcomes/complications • photodynamic therapy