Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for myopic choroidal neovascularization: 1-year results of a prospective pilot study
- Wai-Man Chan (cwm6373{at}netvigator.com),
- Timothy Y Y Lai (tyylai{at}cuhk.edu.hk),
- David T L Liu,
- Dennis S C Lam
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Published Online First 18 September 2008
Abstract
Background: To report the 1-year results of intravitreal bevacizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization (CNV).
Methods: Twenty-nine eyes of 29 patients with myopic CNV were prospectively recruited to receive three initial monthly intravitreal bevacizumab injections. Three additional monthly injections were performed in eyes with persistent or recurrent CNV after 3 months.
Results: The mean spherical equivalent refractive error was -10.0D. Sixteen eyes had previous photodynamic therapy (PDT) and 13 eyes had no prior PDT. All patients completed follow-up at 1 year. Following the initial three bevacizumab injections, 27 (93.1%) eyes had angiographic closure and two (6.9%) required further treatment. Two additional patients required retreatment for CNV recurrence between 6 and 9 months. The mean baseline logMAR BCVA was 0.62 (20/83), which improved to 0.38 (20/48) at 12 months (P<0.001). The mean visual improvement was 2.9 lines and 21 (72.4%) eyes had improvement of ≥2 lines. Optical coherence tomography showed significant reduction in central foveal thickness following treatment. Eyes without previous PDT were more likely to gain ≥2 lines after treatment than eyes which had previous PDT (P=0.010).
Conclusions: The 1-year outcomes confirmed previous short-term studies that intravitreal bevacizumab is effective for myopic CNV, with a high proportion of patients sustaining visual gain after treatment.
