Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreous bevacizumab (BV) blockade of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in 300 eyes of patients with retinal diseases unresponsive to current therapeutic modalities.
Methods: :
Patients with macular degeneration (62%), central and branch retinal vein occlusion (22%) diabetic retinopathy (proliferative and non–proliferative) (12%) and other complex retinal diseases including those less than 4% (neovascular glaucoma, perifoveal telangiectasia, non–clearing vitreous hemorrhage (diabetic and non–diabetic), central serous retinopathy, non–arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy, ocular sarcoid) were treated with a single intravitreous dose (0.05 ml/1.25 mg) of BV. Clinical improvement determined by better visual acuities (VA), reduction in fluorescein angiographic (FA) abnormalities or reductions in retinal anatomic abnormalities by optical coherence tomography (OCT) were evaluated at 1 week and 1 month.
Results: :
More than 92% of the eyes studied in the retrospective review of treated eyes demonstrated at least 2 of 3 parameters (VA, FA or OCT) for clinical improvement within 1 month of injection. Representative VAs, FAs and OCTs will be presented.
Conclusions: :
VEGF appears to be ubiquitous as a final common pathway in many retinal diseases and blockade by a specific intravitreous monoclonal antibody (BV) to VEGF has demonstrated potential for therapeutic intervention in multiple retinal diseases when there are no other treatment modalities or they have failed.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease • diabetic retinopathy