Abstract
Purpose :
To study the prevalence of thickened choroid in patients requiring frequent intravitreal anti-Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF )injections for the treatment of choroidal neovascularisation(CNVM),using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography(EDI OCT).
Methods :
A retrospective analysis of 64 eyes requiring frequent anti- VEGF treatment into the second year after initiation of treatment was undertaken. The open eyes database (EPR) was searched for all the patients requiring more than 8 injections in the second year of treatment. Patients with the diagnosis of wet Age related macular degeneration(AMD )who had undergone EDI OCT at any point during their treatment were selected. The subfoveal choroid thickness was measured using the calipers instrument in the Spectralis ocular coherence tomography (Heidelberg engineering Inc). Measurement was done from the outer margin of the Bruch’s membrane to the sclerochoroidal junction.Measurements above 300 microns were considered.
Results :
We included 64 eyes with the generic diagnosis of wet AMD,that had undergone EDI OCT. These eyes were in their second year of treatment with intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment. We found that out of 64 eyes, 3 eyes had a primary diagnosis of Idiopathic Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy(IPCV),53 eyes had a diagnosis of Occult CNVM secondary to wet AMD,1 eye had myopic CNVM, 4 eyes had a primary diagnosis of central serous chorioretinopathy(CSCR).A thickened choroid was found in 13 eyes, with an average subfoveal choroidal thickness of 398 microns.
We found a prevalence of thickened choroid to be 20.31 % in patients in their second year of treatment.
Conclusions :
Presence of a thickened choroid may predispose a refractory response or a prolonged treatment with intravitreal anti-VEFG injections in about 20 % eyes with choroidal neovascular membranes.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.