Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the one year outcomes after an intravitreal injection of aflibercept (IVA) using a modifiedtreat and extend regimen (TER) during the maintenance phase for patients with age-related macular degeneration (wAMD)
Methods :
The medical records of 68 eyes of 68 patients diagnosed with wAMD at the Chiba University Hospital between April 2013 and October 2015 were reviewed. All of the patients were treated with intravitreal aflibercept for at least 1 year using a modified TER. Twelve eyes were treatment naive and 56 eyes had been treated with an intravitreal injection of ranibizumab or photodynamic therapy. Treatment naive patients were treated at 4-weekly intervals for the first 3 months. All patients were treated 4-5 weeks with IVA until no signs of exudation were detected in the OCT and slit-lamp examinations. If no signs of exudation was present, the interval was increased to 8 weeks. After the 8th week injection, the treatment intervals were sequentially lengthened by approximately 2weeks if there were no signs of recurrent exudation. With signs of exudation, the interval was shortened by 2 weeks. The outcome measures were the changes in the best-corrected visual aquity (BCVA) from the baseline, and the mean number of injection after 1 year.
Results :
<div>The mean follow-up period was 1.68 years. At the baseline, the mean BCVA was 0.44±0.04 logMAR units (mean ± SE) which improved to 0.37 ± 0.04 logMAR units at one year (P<0.001). Twenty-two percent of the patients had an improvement of > 0.3 logMAR unit, and 6% had a decrease of the BCVA by >0.3 logMAR units at the final visit. The BCVA of 94% of the patients was improved or mainrained at one year. The mean number of injection was 6.72.</div>
Conclusions :
Intravitreal aflibercept using a modified TER in the maintenance stage can be effective in improving and maintaining the visual improvements in patients with wAMD for at least one year after the initial treatment.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.