Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the association between choroidal thickness differences and the response to intravitreal injection in wet age related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods :
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with treatment naïve wet AMD patients who received loading doses of intravitreal aflibercept only. One month after three loading doses, eyes of patients were divided into two groups according to the anatomic changes on optical coherence tomography (OCT). Good response group to aflibercept was defined who showed complete absorption of subretinal fluid without worsening of any anatomic changes on OCT, whereas poor response group was defined who showed worsening of OCT findings and remaining subretinal fluid. We investigated the relationship between baseline choroidal thickness and anatomic and functional outcome.Baseline choroidal thickness was compared between good and poor response group. Baseline visual acuity and improvement of visual acuity were evaluated in both groups and compared with LogMAR scale. Age and sex were also investigated.
Results :
Fifty six eyes were included in this study, 28 eyes were included in good response groups and 28 eyes were in poor response group. Age was not different between good response group (68.2±8.3year old) and poor response group(68.0±6.9 year old). Baseline choroidal thickness was significantly thinner in good response group (178.4±88.0µm) than in poor response group (235.5±73.3µm). Baseline visual acuity was similar in both groups (see table) and the visual acuity after loading doses was significantly better in good response group (0.5±0.4,LogMAR) than in poor response group (0.6±0.3,LogMAR).
Conclusions :
The eye with thinner choroid showed better response to aflibercept in treatment naïve wet AMD patients than eye with thicker choroid. Functional outcome showed also better in patients with thinner choroid than with thicker choroid.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.