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Anti-VEGF therapy effective in treatment of myopic CNV
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PARIS — Among the numerous treatments proposed over time for myopic choroidal neovascularization, anti-VEGF therapy is the most effective and widely accepted option today.
 Francesco Bandello |
“Anti-VEGFs have been shown to halt CNV progression, are well tolerated, and a gain of 5 to 25 letters has been reported in the literature,” Francesco Bandello, MD, said at the meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology.
A few questions remain regarding the use of these drugs. Longer follow-ups are necessary to assess long-term effectiveness and to evaluate the variables that may influence the different interindividual responses to the therapy. The most appropriate treatment regimens are currently under evaluation, and studies comparing Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech) and Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) are under way.
Dr. Bandello was involved in multicenter studies in which subfoveal CNV and extrafoveal CNV were treated with intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy. An as-needed regimen based on optical coherence tomography and fluorescein angiography was adopted over a period of 2 years. There was no loss of lines of vision in more than half of the patients, and a gain of three or more lines was achieved in 37% of the subfoveal CNV eyes and 47% of the extrafoveal CNV eyes.
Another study randomly assigned patients to treatment with photodynamic therapy, laser or anti-VEGF injection, and the results of anti-VEGF therapy were remarkably superior.
Ranibizumab and bevacizumab were compared in a study of 25 eyes and 23 eyes, respectively.
“Results were comparable, but the number of injections over 18 months was almost double with bevacizumab,” Dr. Bandello said.
- Disclosure: Dr. Bandello is a consultant for Novartis, Allergan, Pfizer, Alcon, Bayer and Thea.