Intravitreal Pegaptanib Sodium for Choroidal Neovascularization Secondary to Age-Related Macular Degeneration- A Pan-European Experience

Abstract

Purpose: : The phase III studies of pegaptanib sodium [VEGF Inhibition Study in Ocular Neovascularization trials (VISION)] showed that 6 weekly pegaptanib sodium when given as intravitreous injections to patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to ARMD stabilised vision (loss of less than 15 letters ETDRS) in 70% . Gain of vision (gain of ≥15 letters ETDRS) was noted in 6%. This aim of this audit is to compare the visual outcome obtained in real-life experience with pegaptanib sodium with that of the VISION study.

Methods: : A combined cohort of 164 patients from 5 different European countries was included. Consecutive patients with any angiographic subtype of subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to AMD and best-corrected visual acuities (BCVA) in the study eye of 20/40 to 20/320 that received 0.3mg pegaptanib sodium as the first-line treatment were included. After 3 doses of six-weekly pegaptanib sodium, a PRN dosing schedule was followed. The final follow-up is 24 weeks.

Results: : The mean baseline visual acuity was 43.3 ETDRS letters and the mean baseline lesion size was 3664 um. 90.2% stabilised vision and 14.6% gained more than 15 letters. The average change in visual acuity for all lesions was a loss of 1.7 letters. Lesion subtypes and baseline lesion size did not influence the final visual outcome.

Conclusions: : The visual acuity outcome with Pegaptanib sodium was better than the VISION study despite a PRN dosing schedule.

Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • visual acuity • retina