Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate efficacy of Aflibercept as a treatment of first choice in naïve patients suffering from wet AMD.
Methods :
We selected 50 patients, 35 of whom were suffering from occult CNV and 15 with classic CNV who had never been subjected to any treatment, and had them undergo IVT therapy with Aflibercept: 1 IVT per month for the first three months and then bimonthly administration for a total of 12 months follow-up (7 IVT in one year). Visual acuity (AV) by ETDRS and central retinal thickness (CT) were evaluated at time zero (T0), after 3 months (T1), and then after each intravitreal treatment, and then again every two months (T2-T4).
Results :
Between T0-T3 there is a statistically significant increase in AV (p <0.05), going from 16.8 letters (L) to 21.4 L; between T3-T7 there is instead a statistically significant reduction of AV from 21.4 T to 19,3L; between T0-T7 there is an increase, from 16.8 L to 19,3L, which does not appear to be statistically significant.
Regarding instead the OCT variations of the CT, from T0 to T3 there is a statistically significant reduction (p <0.05) from 292.7μ to 197.6μ; from T3 to T7 there is a slight increase in thickness (from 197.6μ to 214.6μ) which is not statistically significant. However, between T0-T7 there was a statistically significant reduction in CT, from 292.7μ to 214.6 μ. Patients who presented DEP (37 at T0) were reduced to 22 at T3 and then to 9 at T7; Patients who instead had a detachment of the neuroepithelium in the foveal (30 at T0) were reduced to 15 at T3 and to 12 at T7.
Conclusions :
Treatment with Aflibercept (0.0.5 ml / 2.0 mg) results in significant improvements of the central retinal thickness evaluated with OCT, while the AV tends to remain stable.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.