gms | German Medical Science

Purpose: To assess the morphological and functional outcome and stability of the treat and extend protocol using aflibercept compared to ranibizumab for the treatment of eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Patients and

Methods: This retrospective study included 100 eyes of 94 patients with primary onset neovascular age-related macular degeneration followed for 24 months. We studied two groups of eyes: group 1: 50 eyes treated with 0.5 mg/0.05 mL ranibizumab, group 2: 50 eyes treated with 2.0 mg/0.05 mL aflibercept. During the first year, all eyes received 3 aflibercept or ranibizumab injections monthly as upload phase. Then eyes were treated with a treat and extend algorithm. Main outcome measures included: best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT) and the number of injections. In addition, we compared recurrence rates between the two groups.

Results: BCVA (LogMar) in group 1 vs group 2 was (0.54±0.31 vs 0.49±0.30, p=0.37) before treatment and (0.49±0.25 vs 0.47±0.32, p=0.85) after treatment. CMT in group 1 vs group 2 was (375.6±98.3μm vs 369.6±103.7μm, p=0.7) before treatment and (296.7±62.7μm vs 287.6±60.7μm, p=0.5) after treatment. The decrease in CMT was (68.7±86μm vs 75±92μm, p=0.7). Number of injections/eye after upload phase in group 1 vs group 2 was (8.6±3.2 vs 9.8±3.2, p=0.7). Finally, recurrence rates in group 1 vs group 2 were (9% vs 14 %, p=0.06).

Conclusions: Statistically significant differences regarding BCVA, central macular thickness and number of injections were not found between aflibercept and ranibizumab at 24months. On the other hand, there was a higher tendency of recurrence rates, statistically in the aflibercept group compared to ranibizumab group after following identical treat and extend protocol.