Abstract
Purpose :
To report the short-term efficacy of switch therapy to brolucizumab in Japanese patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) recalcitrant to aflibercept or ranibizumab therapy.
Methods :
Design: Prospective case series.
Participants: Fifteen eyes of 15 patients with nAMD unable to extend treatment intervals beyond 8 weeks under aflibercept or ranibizumab therapy were enrolled.
Patients were switched to brolucizumab therapy, and the treatment intervals were reassessed based on the recurrence of fluids under the treat and extend protocol.
The best-corrected visual acuity converted to logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) unit, central foveal retinal thickness (CRT), height of subretinal retinal fluid (SRF) at the central fovea, maximum height of pigment epithelial detachment (PED), and the presence or absence of SRF and IRF were compared at baseline (after the last injection before switch therapy) and after the second intravitreal injection of brolucizumab (IVBr).
Results :
The CRT(P=0.006), height of SRF (P=0.012) and maximum height of PED(P=0.001) improved significantly from baseline after the second IVBr. The visual acuity did not significantly improved from the baseline after the second IVBr (P=0.799). The proportions of eyes with SRF changed from 80% to 27% (P＝0.012, χ2: 6.40)and the proportions of eyes with IRF changed from 6.7% to 13.3% (P＝0.318, χ2: 1.00). There were three cases of intraocular inflammation without vision loss after the second IVBr.
Conclusions :
The switch therapy to brolucizumab resulted in early anatomical response for Japanese patients with nAMD recalcitrant to aflibercept or ranibizumab therapy.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.