Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine short-term effects of intravitreal bevacizumab for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in pathologic myopia.
Methods: :
In this prospective interventional case series, patients were treated with 2.5 mg of intravitreal bevacizumab and followed for 3 months. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescein angiography (FA) were recorded. Indications for retreatment were active leaking CNV shown by FA and presence of subretinal fluid by OCT in combination with visual disturbances.
Results: :
Seven patients(3 men and 4 women) ranged in age from 28 to 70 years (mean 45.6 ± 18.9 years). The duration of symptom before treatment ranged 4 days to 1years(mean 63ays), the spherical equivalent refraction from -21.75Dto-6.5D(mean -12.4±6.1D) and follow up period after treatment from 92 days to 149days (mean 115.3±19.4 ).The BCVA levels before treatment ranged from 0.02 to 0.7 (mean 0.29 ± 0.26). The BCVA at the final visit ranged from 0.02 to 1.0 (mean 0.59±0.36 ). Five patients (71%) had an improved BCVA of two or more lines ; in two (0.29%) patients the BCVA remained same at the last visit (p=0.042 by Wilcoxon signed rank test).The mean foveal thickness was 292.7±64.1µm before treatment and 196.0 ± 35.3µm after treatment, the difference that reached significance (p= 0.018 by Wilcoxon signed rank test).
Conclusions: :
Initial treatment results of patients with CNV due to pathologic myopia did not reveal any short-term safety concerns. Intravitreal bevacizumab resulted in a significant decrease in foveal thickness and improvement in visual acuity. These favorable initial results support further larger and long-term studies.
Keywords: choroid: neovascularization • myopia