WORLD VIEW

The International Intravitreal Bevacizumab Safety Survey: using the internet to assess drug safety worldwide

A E Fung¹, P J Rosenfeld² and E Reichel³

¹ Pacific Eye Associates, San Francisco, California, USA
² Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA
³ Department of Ophthalmology, New England Eye Center, Tufts University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
A E Fung
Pacific Eye Associates, 2100 Webster Street, Suite 214, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA;annefungmd{at}yahoo.com

Aim: Off-label intravitreal injections of bevacizumab (Avastin) have been given for the treatment of neovascular and exudative ocular diseases since May 2005. Since then, the use of intravitreal bevacizumab has spread worldwide, but the drug-related adverse events associated with its use have been reported only in a few retrospective reviews. The International Intravitreal Bevacizumab Safety Survey was initiated to gather timely information regarding adverse events from doctors around the world via the internet.

Methods: An internet-based survey was designed to identify adverse events associated with intravitreal bevacizumab treatment. The survey web address was disseminated to the international vitreoretinal community via email. Rates of adverse events were calculated from participant responses.

Results: 70 centres from 12 countries reported on 7113 injections given to 5228 patients. Doctor-reported adverse events included corneal abrasion, lens injury, endophthalmitis, retinal detachment, inflammation or uveitis, cataract progression, acute vision loss, central retinal artery occlusion, subretinal haemorrhage, retinal pigment epithelium tears, blood pressure elevation, transient ischaemic attack, cerebrovascular accident and death. None of the adverse event rates exceeded 0.21%.

Conclusion: Intravitreal bevacizumab is being used globally for ocular diseases. Self-reporting of adverse events after intravitreal bevacizumab injections did not show an increased rate of potential drug-related ocular or systemic events. These short-term results suggest that intravitreal bevacizumab seems to be safe.

Abbreviations: AMD, age-related macular degeneration; CVA, cerebrovascular accident; DVT, deep venous thrombosis; TIA, transient ischaemic attack

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