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Anti-VEGF for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy improves visual acuity up to 2 years
Three ranibizumab injections and subsequent re-injections improved visual acuity and foveal thickness but did not eliminate branching vascular networks in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, according to a study. Improvements in visual acuity decreased after 1 year.
The prospective study included 75 eyes of 73 patients with symptomatic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy who received one monthly intravitreal 0.5 mg injection of Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech) for 3 months and subsequent re-injection on an as-needed basis. Two-year results were analyzed.
LogMAR visual acuity improved from 0.59 at baseline to 0.37 at 1 year and 0.41 at 2 years after the first injection; both improvements were statistically significant (P = .001). However, visual acuity diminished slightly in the second year. Improvements in foveal thickness persisted in the second year.
Polypoidal lesions were absent from 30 eyes (40%) 1 year after the first injection and 19 eyes (25%) at 2 years.
All eyes had branching vascular networks 2 years after the initial injection; networks increased in size in the second year.