Article
Long-term results after 4 years of flexible ranibizumab treatment in patients with wet AMD
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Published: | May 30, 2012 |
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Purpose: To analyze the long-term efficacy of ranibizumab in a group of AMD patients under a PRN-regimen.
Methods: A 4-years analysis of an institutional case series of initially 104 patients (104 eyes) was performed. Patients were monitored in year 1 monthly and later on as close as possible to regular monthly intervals. Treatment response was classified after 48 months into 3 categories: winner with ≥ 1 line of visual acuity (VA) improvement, stabilizer with <1 line gain or loss of VA, and loser with ≥ 1 line of VA loss.
Results: 84 patients (81%) completed the 48-month visit. VA improved after 3 injections by +1.43 lines until month 3 and was +1.08 at month 12, +0.63 at month 24, +0.58 at month 36, and +0.07 at month 48. The average number of injections was 14.0 between baseline and month 48 (5.8 in year 1, 3.3 in 2, 2.6 in 3, 2.4 in year 4). 9 eyes (10.7%) needed only 3 injections, 14 eyes (16.7%) ≥ 24 injections. 32 eyes (38.1%) presented a gain of >1 line at month 48, 19 (22.6%) ≥ 3 lines. 25 eyes (29.8%) were classified as stabilizer. 27 (32.1%) eyes lost ≥ 1 line until month 48, 16 (19.0%) of these ≥ 3 lines.
Conclusions: The results demonstrate that flexible ranibizumab treatment results in a long-term visual stabilization clearly superior to the natural course. In the largest subgroup (38.1%) a substantial gain could be conserved for at least 4 years.