Purpose:
To evaluate the 9 and 12 month visual outcome for patients treated with intravitreal bevacizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods:
A 17 month retrospective service evaluation was carried out on 87 patients (91 eyes) treated with intravitreal bevacizumab 1.25 mg for subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) secondary to AMD. Best-corrected visual acuity (Snellen), clinical examination, fundus fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed at baseline and follow-up visits.
Results:
231 injections were given (mean 2.5 injections per eye) over a mean of 9.6 months. At baseline, the mean visual acuity (calculated ETDRS) was 48.7. This improved by a mean of 4.9 letters (n=75, p=0.005), 4.7 letters (n=83, p=0.004), 5.0 letters (n=55, p=0.013), and 3.1 letters (n=35, p=0.207) at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months respectively. At last follow-up, 87.9% of eyes had stable vision (loss of <15 letters), and 28.6% gained ≥ 15 letters. There was a significant reduction (92.8 µm) of central macular thickness on OCT at the last visit compared to baseline (n=36, p<0.001). Two patients developed endophthalmitis. No systemic adverse effects were noted.
Conclusions:
The beneficial effects of intravitreal bevacizumab appear sustained at 9 months, and possibly so at 12 months, and are associated with few ocular adverse events
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • choroid: neovascularization • vascular endothelial growth factor