Abstract
Purpose :
AntiVEGF injections have improved clinical outcomes in treatment naïve nAMD patients. There is a paucity of information on large cohorts of patients switched from one antiVEGF agent to another. This study set out to evaluate outcomes from large numbers of patients from multiple centres to evaluate the clinical benefit in terms of visual stabilisation or improvement over time.
Methods :
All patients with nAMD whose treatment was switched from ranibizumab to aflibercept were included in the study. Prospectively entered visual acuity data were collected and extracted from Medisoft, an electronic
patient record used at 16 centres in the UK. Data collection is ongoing, the data cut presented is until the end of October 2015, providing 2-year follow up.
Results :
The mean visual acuity at the point of switch in 3770 eyes was 57.6 ETDRS letters, 58.6 at 6 months (1933 eyes), 57.7 at 12 months (1323 eyes), 57.8 at 18 months (1114) and 57.6 letters at 24 months. The mean visual acuity had been 61.1 letters 24 months prior to switch in 1122 eyes and 60.2 at 12 months prior to switch (1830 eyes). There was a mean decline of 3.5 letters over 24 months prior to switch. There was no change in mean visual acuity at 24 months after switch to aflibercept .
Conclusions :
The visual acuity of patients switched to aflibercept from ranibizumab remained stable over 24 months post switch. Aflibercept appears to be effective in stabilising visual acuity as a sequential treatment in patients where visual acuity had worsened on ranibizumab treatment.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.