Article
Inclusion and withdrawal criteria of intravitreal injections with ranibizumab (Lucentis®) in neovascular ARMD
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Published: | June 18, 2008 |
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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.