Abstract
Purpose :
A retrospective clinical study was performed to examine the real world visual outcome of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who underwent treatment with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents in a multi-office retina practice in the United States for at least 2 years.
Methods :
Patients with the diagnosis of wet AMD, at least 2 years of follow-up and who received at least one anti-VEGF injection between January 2010 and December 2012 were included. Patients with ocular comorbidities that could affect visual acuity (VA) were excluded. The following data were collected through chart review: age; sex; treated eye; VA at baseline, 3 and 6 months, 1 and 2 years, and at last follow-up; ocular comorbidities; injection complications; phakic status; fundus findings; optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings including: central retinal thickness (CRT), subretinal/intraretinal fluid (SRF/IRF), subretinal hyperreflective material (SHRM).
Results :
A preliminary analysis of the 50 eyes included in this study showed 36 females (72%) and 14 (28%) males. The mean age was 83 (median: 85, min: 61, max 96). The mean visual acuity at baseline was: 20/77; at 3 months: 20/59; at 6 months: 20/53; at 1 year: 20/72; at 2 years: 20/83. Over 2 years of therapy, a mean of 8.8 injections were received (median: 8.5, min: 1, max: 23; 6 injections during first year and 2.8 injections during the second year). No complications were reported.
Patients with baseline VA ≥ 20/40 had the best mean VA at 2 years (20/52), received the least number of injections (mean: 8.2), and lost a mean of 8 letters over 2 years. Patients with baseline VA between 20/40 and 20/200 (inclusive) had a mean VA of 20/82 at 2 years with a mean of 8.7 injections and lost a mean of 2 letters. Patients with baseline VA < 20/200 had a mean of 20/200 at 2 years with a mean of 10.2 injections and gained a mean of 21 letters.
Conclusions :
Patients with baseline VA ≥ 20/40 were at highest risk of losing vision over time but received the fewest number of injections. Patients with VA < 20/200 gained the most number of letters and received the highest number of injections over 2 years; however, their final visual outcome was worse than the other 2 groups.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.