gms | German Medical Science

22nd Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society

German Retina Society

26.06. - 27.06.2009, Berlin

VEGF levels in serum and breast milk after repeated intravitreal injection of Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab – a case report

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • Christoph Ehlken - University Eye Clinic of Freiburg
  • A. Stahl - University Eye Clinic of Freiburg
  • H. Agostini - University Eye Clinic of Freiburg

German Retina Society. 22nd Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society. Berlin, 26.-27.06.2009. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2009. DocRG2009-20

doi: 10.3205/09rg21, urn:nbn:de:0183-09rg216

This is the English version of the article.
The German version can be found at: http://www.egms.de/de/meetings/rg2009/09rg21.shtml

Published: June 29, 2009

© 2009 Ehlken 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

Purpose: to measure VEGF expression in serum and breast milk after repeated intravitreal injection of Bevacizumab or Ranibizumab in a nursing 33-year-old woman with choroidal neovascularisation secondary to a chorioretinal scar.

Methods: detection of VEGF in serum and breast milk samples before and after intravitreal injection of VEGF-inhibitors by ELISA.

Results: VEGF serum levels were significantly decreased after intreavitreal injection of Bevacizumab for about 8 weeks after injection and recovered slowly. VEGF concentration in breast milk was reduced by 30%, though VEGF is still present at high levels. After intravitreal Ranibizumab, however, serum and breast milk levels only showed a temporary downregulation after three days and recovered to preinjection levels after one week.

Conclusion: In principle, intravitreal injection of VEGF inhibitors should be avoided in nursing mothers. However, if anti-VEGF-treatment is unavoidable, Ranibizumab has a significantly lower effect on physiological levels of VEGF in serum and breast milk than Bevacizumab and should therefore be preferred.