Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine whether the stage of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) or the intravitreal bevacizumab treatment alters the ocular concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Methods: :
Three Stage 4A, 2 stage 4B, and 4 stage 5 eyes of 6 ROP patients were studied. An intravitreal injection of bevecizumab (0.75 mg/0.03 ml/eye, 4 eyes of 4 patients) was performed after approval by Institutional Review Board of Nagoya University Hospital and informed consent from the parents. Aqueous humor was collected just before the surgery or intravitreal injection of bevacizumab, and the concentration of VEGF was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Aqueous humor was also collected from patients with congenital cataracts during surgery as control.
Results: :
The average concentration of VEGF in control eyes was <200 pg/ml. The average concentration of VEGF was 1086 pg/ml in stage 4A eyes, 1890 pg/ml in stage 4B eyes, and 3520 pg/ml in stage 5 eyes. After bevacizumab, the unbound VEGF concentration was less than 300 pg/ml in all eyes. In one patient, the concentration of VEGF after bevacizumab injection was 370 pg/ml. The VEGF concentration became lower with the postmenstral age.
Conclusions: :
The VEGF concentration tended to become higher with the advance of the stage of ROP. Intravitreal bevacizumab resulted in a marked decrease of the unbound VEGF concentration in eyes with ROP.
Keywords: retinopathy of prematurity • vascular endothelial growth factor • aqueous