Abstract
Purpose: :
To report the 12 months results of the intravitreal bevacizumab treatment for retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP), a subgroup of the neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
Methods: :
In this retrospective study, 48 consecutive patients (52 eyes) with RAP lesions were included who underwent intravitreal bevacizumab injections between September 2005 and October 2006. Intravitreal bevacizumab injections were performed either as primary treatment procedure or following failure by other therapies. All patients had complete ocular examination including visual acuity (VA) measurement with ETDRS chart, fundus photography and optical coherence tomography at baseline and at follow-up examinations. Fluorescein angiography was available at baseline and was repeated if necessary. Indocyanine green angiography was performed in eyes if the RAP lesions could not be graded with certainty. Primary outcome measurement was the change of the mean VA from baseline to 12 month. Visual acuity equivalents were converted into logMAR units for statistical analysis.
Results: :
Forty-eight (34 female, 14 male, mean age: 76.5 years) were treated by intravitreal bevacizumab injections (average 3.2; range 1-7). All patients had a follow-up of 12 months. Mean visual acuity was 20/87 (logMAR 0.64) at baseline and 20/91 (logMAR 0.65) at 12 month (P=0.812). The mean visual acuity decreased of less than three ETDRS lines in 78.8% (41/52) of the eyes and improved of one or more ETDRS lines in 44.2% (23/52). Two eyes had retinal pigment epithelial tears. One eye developed prolonged intraocular inflammation requiring further surgery. Another eye had retinal detachment not related to the intravitreal injection. No systemic side effects were noted.
Conclusions: :
In the present retrospective, non-comparative study, VA stabilized or improved in the majority of the eyes in one year following the intravitreal bevacizumab treatment for RAP lesions. Given this promising results, further controlled studies are warranted to asses the effect of intravitreal bevacizumab treatment for RAP lesions.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration