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

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Efficicy and Safety of Intravitreal Bevacizumab (Avastin) on demand in neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration. 12 Months Results.

Meeting Abstract

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  • Bert Müller - Berlin/Germany
  • A.U. Porstmann - Berlin/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. DocISOTRG2008V111

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/rg2008/08rg112.shtml

Published: June 18, 2008

© 2008 Müller 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

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Background: Intravitreal Bevacizumab has been used off label for years in neovascular age related macular degeneration without approval from prospective studies.

Methods: prospective, open label, non randomized, investigator initiated single center trail. 26 patients (28 eyes) were enrolled to receive 2 intravitreal bevacizumab (1mg) injections within 12 weeks and were thereafter prospectively followed every 3 weeks for 12 months. Retreatment was allowed when either loss of vision of at least one line/ 5 letters occurred and/ or an active choroidal neovascularisation was detected in OCT or fluorescein angiography.

Results: After 12 months vision improved by 10.3 ETDRS letters (p=0.000) from baseline 0.25 (dec.) or 55 letters. Central macular thickness decreased by 83µm (p=0.1).These results were obtained with an average amount of 4.6 injections. Vision improved of more than 3 lines/15 letters in a third of the treated eyes, whereas 2 patients (2 eyes) experienced a severe loss of vision of more than 3 lines. Adverse ocular side effects were not observed. One patient suffered from transient ischemic cerebral attack with complete recovery.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates similiar results of intravitreal Bevacizumab on demand in neovascular ARMD with regard to the other anti-VEGF agents justfiying the need for further direct comparing clinical trails.