Abstract
Purpose: :
To investigate the visual acuity (VA), maximum retinal thickness (MRT) and subretinal fluid thickness as measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treated with bevacizumab monotherapy.
Methods: :
A retrospective review of the charts and horizontal OCT fast map or cross hair images of 80 eyes of 77 consecutive patients treated by the University of Wisconsin Retina Service with bevacizumab 1.25 mg for neovascular AMD. Inclusion criteria included only patients with choroidal neovascularization due to AMD. Patients had not received prior treatment with any other modality and could only have received treatment with bevacizumab during the course of follow-up. All patients had at least 36 weeks of follow-up. No pre-determined treatment schedule or re-treatment criteria was required. MRT and subretinal fluid thickness was manually measured from the thickest point on the horizontal scan.
Results: :
Baseline mean logMar VA was 0.88 and baseline MRT was 376um. LogMar VA at 6 and 12 weeks improved to 0.73 and 0.71, respectively (both p<0.0001) . At 48 weeks the logMar visual acuity measured 0.69 (p<0.001). Mean MRT at baseline was 376 µm, while at 6 and 12 weeks decreased to 251 µm and 265 µm, respectively (both p<0.0001). At 48 weeks the mean MRT measured 285 µm (p<0.0001). Subretinal fluid decreased during the course of follow-up but the change was not statistically significant. At each time point, the number of eyes receiving injections decreased. By 36 weeks the injection rate was 0.38 and by 48 weeks was 0.29. No serious adverse events were identified.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • macula/fovea