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Triamcinolone PDT requires fewer re-treatments
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NEW YORK — Combining intravitreal triamcinolone with standard photodynamic therapy for the treatment of patients with age-related macular degeneration resulted in equivalent outcomes and fewer re-treatments than standard PDT treatments alone, said one surgeon speaking here.
When physicians encounter choroidal neovascularization, “we think of it as inappropriate vessel growth, but your body thinks it’s normal growth,” Richard Spaide, MD, told attendees here at the Ocular Surgery News Symposium: Cataract, Glaucoma & Refractive Surgery. To properly treat AMD with CNV, physicians try to eradicate blood cells, “but we’re doing things to stimulate their growth.”
In a small study of 15 patients with AMD and CNV, all underwent PDT with intravitreal triamcinolone. Follow-up was 12 months. Thirteen patients had juxtafoveal CNV, Dr. Spaide added. The average age of these patients was 79.9 years, and after an initial treatment, all had a visual acuity of 20/50 or better. Only one patient required re-treatment. Patients had a mean best corrected visual acuity of 20/40 with no loss of acuity, Dr. Spaide said.
The downside to these results was the small sample size and the short-term results. Dr. Spaide said that three clinical trials are currently under way to compare triamcinolone PDT and traditional PDT.