Abstract
Purpose :
The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of the "treat and extend" scheme in patients with age related macular degeneration, using Ranibizumab (Lucentis®) Adalimumab (Eylea®) and/or Bevacizumab (Avastin®) .
Methods :
In a retrospective study we identified patients who were treated with Anti VEGF due to exsudative age related macular degeneration (AMD) between June 2014 and September 2016, using the "treat and extend" scheme. Outcome measures included the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the evaluation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) including the reduction of macular edema (ME) if present and the individual treatment interval.
Results :
116 eyes of 113 patients (65 female, 48 male) with an average age of 77.3 years (range 43-92 years) were treated with Ranibizumab (19 patients), Adalimumab (60 patients) or Bevacizumab (10 patients) alone. Four patients received Ranibizumab and Bevacizumab, six patients Adalimumab and Bevacizumab, 15 patients received with Ranibizumab and Adalimumab and 2 patients were treated with all of them. Altogether patients were treated over an average follow -up period of 75.1 weeks (range 19-119 weeks). The average individual treatment interval was 8.9 weeks. A reduction of macular thickness from 332 µm before the treatment to 307 µm at the last follow up was found. Before and after the treat and extend treatment the median BCVA was 0.4.
Conclusions :
In this retrospective study we could see an improvement in macular thickness and a stable BCVA using the "treat and extend" scheme in patients with exsudative age related macular degeneration using these three substances.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.