Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine if combination therapy with a single reduced fluence verteporfin PDT at Month 2 after retinal thickness lowering, reduces retreatment rates with ranibizumab, compared with Lucentis® monotherapy while maintaining similar vision outcomes and an acceptable safety profile.
Methods: :
In this retrospective, observational study, 40 patients with newly diagnosed subfoveal choroidal neovascularization due to AMD were treated by intravitreal injections of Lucentis® for at least one year (ranibizumab 0.5 mg, 3 consecutive monthly injections followed by PRN injections) and a single verteporfin PDT administered at reduced fluence (300 mW/cm2, 25J/cm2) on the day of the 2nd ranibizumab injection
Results: :
Interim results were obtained from 27 patients who completed the one year follow-up. The mean VA at baseline was 66.7 (SD+7.4).The mean VA gain was +9.0 letters ETDRS (SD+7.4) and 26% (7/27) ≥ 15 letters EDTRS. The mean IVT number was 4.15 (SD+1.46), 48% (13/27) did not receive any further IVT after the loading phase and 81% (22/27) received ≤2 IVT after the loading phase.
Conclusions: :
Despite the high VA level at baseline, it seems that this protocol using a single verteperfin PDTRF administred later during the second IVT instead of during the first IVT provides a high vision gain associated with a low injection rate. The full analysis on the entire data set will be presented.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: treatment/prevention assessment/controlled clinical trials