gms | German Medical Science

21st Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society and 8th Symposium of the International Society of Ocular Trauma (ISOT)

German Retina Society
International Society of Ocular Trauma

19.06. - 22.06.2008, Würzburg

Article

Send article

Inclusion and withdrawal criteria of intravitreal injections with ranibizumab (Lucentis®) in neovascular ARMD

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • Hita Tushar Dave - Hamburg/Germany
  • W. Wiegand - Hamburg/Germany

Retinologische Gesellschaft. International Society of Ocular Trauma. 21. Jahrestagung der Retinologischen Gesellschaft gemeinsam mit dem 8. Symposium der International Society of Ocular Trauma. Würzburg, 19.-22.06.2008. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2008. DocISOTRG2008V114

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/rg2008/08rg115.shtml

Published: June 18, 2008

© 2008 Dave et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Background: In neovascular ARMD the macula commission of RG/DOG/BVA recommends an upload-therapy of 3 injections of Ranibizumab (Lucentis®) only in patients with a minimal visual acuity of >0.05 and suggests withdrawal of therapy if visual acuity becomes lower than 0.5.

Method: Between January 2007 and January 2008, we treated 450 patients in our clinic with an upload-therapy with Lucentis®. The initial visual acuity and the visual acuity after uploading was analyzed, in particular with regard to the recommendations of the RG/DOG/BVA commission for inclusion and withdrawal of the therapy.

Results: 37 patients (8.2%) had an initial visual acuity less than 0.05. Since it was the only functional eye, an upload-therapy with Lucentis® (3 intravitreal injections monthly) was administered. Out of these 37 patients, 20 patients (54%) developed a marked increase in visual acuity up to a mean of 0.2 (0.7logMAR), 12 patients (33%) maintained their visual acuity and in 5 patients (13%) a further drop of visual acuity occurred.

Conclusion: In patients with only one functional eye the intravitreal injection of VEGF inhibitors should focus less on low visual acuity but more on the morphological criteria of the neovascular ARMD.