Article Text
Abstract
Objective To evaluate the 6-year outcomes of anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) monotherapy for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).
Methods The charts of 66 eyes of 66 patients with newly diagnosed, symptomatic, treatment-naive PCV were reviewed retrospectively. All patients were treated with 0.5 mg intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) injections for 3 months followed by as-needed reinjections based on monthly examinations until 3 years after the first IVR injection. Thereafter, anti-VEGF monotherapy was continued for another 3 years.
Results The mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved significantly (p=0.001) 3 months after the first IVR injection (0.24±0.30 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) VA; 20/35 Snellen VA) compared with the baseline BCVA (0.34±0.37 logMAR VA; 20/44 Snellen VA). However, the improved VA returned to 0.32±0.39 logMAR unit (20/42 Snellen VA), which was not significantly different at 3 years. This level was maintained to the end of 6 years (0.36±0.37 logMAR unit; 20/46 Snellen VA). The mean numbers of anti-VEGF injections administered annually during 6 years were 5.6±2.4 (including the initial three monthly injections), 3.3±2.2, 3.3±2.9, 3.6±3.2, 3.5±2.9 and 3.3±2.7, respectively. The mean total number of injections during 6 years was 21.5±10.1.
Conclusions The results emphasised the efficacy of anti-VEGF therapy for preserving vision and the limitations of anti-VEGF therapy in that continuous treatment is required over an extended follow-up period.
- Macula
- Treatment Medical
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Footnotes
Contributors TH: conception, design, acquisition of data, analysis, drafting and revising the article, and final approval of all the versions.
Competing interests TH has received lecture fees from Novartis Pharma Japan, Bayer Japan, Santen and Alcon Japan.
Ethics approval The local ethics committee approved the study.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.