This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Ranibizumab shown to reduce macular thickness more than bevacizumab
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
NEW ORLEANS — Treating neovascular age-related macular degeneration with ranibizumab resulted in a greater reduction in macular thickness but not a better visual outcome compared to treatment with bevacizumab, according to a speaker here.
In an independent retrospective study presented during Retina Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting, Adam Martidis, MD, and colleagues reviewed outcomes for 176 eyes treated for neovascular AMD with either intravitreal Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) or Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech). The treatments were administered at baseline and at months 1 and 2, with the data interpreted at month 3. The data was collected from six centers over a 6-month period.
Patients included in the study had a baseline visual acuity between 20/40 and 20/320. None had been previously treated.
At month 3, patients treated with bevacizumab showed a 24.7% decrease in absolute central macular thickness, compared with a 32.9% decrease in patients treated with ranibizumab. Dr. Martidis said the ideal goal for each patient was a 200-µm thick retina. In patients treated with bevacizumab, 70.4% achieved this goal, compared to 92.7% of patients treated with ranibizumab, he said.
"What most of us were obviously concerned about-both as physicians and our patients are concerned about-is the visual results. I do emphasize that this study was not powered to achieve statistical significance for vision, and indeed we did not achieve a statically significant vision change [between the groups]," Dr. Martidis said.
Patients treated with bevacizumab achieved a final visual acuity gain of seven letters vs. six letters for patients treated with ranibizumab. Additionally, 20.9% of bevacizumab-treated patients gained three or more lines, compared with 34.2% of ranibizumab-treated patients.
"Both bevacizumab and ranibizumab — I think we would all agree — are effective in the treatment of exudative AMD. In this limited sample size, there is no statistically significant difference in visual outcome between the two. However, there is a statically significant difference in anatomic advantage in favor of ranibizumab as measured by OCT," Dr. Martidis said.