This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
No direct correlation with adverse events found for bevacizumab treatment of ROP
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
VIENNA —The use of intravitreal bevacizumab appears to be safe in preterm infants for treatment of retinopathy of prematurity, according to a long-term multicenter study.
The 9-year study performed in Mexico, Chile and India focused on systemic and adverse events, and included 418 eyes of 262 infants. Mean weight at birth was 1,338.3 grams, ranging from 600 grams to 1,800 grams. Average age at time of birth was 30 weeks, and average age at time of treatment was 36 weeks.
Maria Martinez-Castellanos
“We recorded 47 systemic potential adverse events, including three deaths not related to bevacizumab: one due to sepsis, one after brain surgery and one after blood transfusion,” Maria Martinez-Castellanos, MD, said at the American Society of Retina Specialists meeting here. Twenty-two subjects had psychomotor development retardation, six had respiratory distress syndrome, nine had intraventricular hemorrhage, and one each had cerebellar hypoplasia and dysmorphic syndrome.
Seventy-three local adverse events were reported, including 68 eyes with subconjunctival hemorrhage, 14 eyes with persistent avascular peripheral retina, six eyes with self-limited vitreous hemorrhage, three eyes with peripheral fibrous avascular membrane, one eye with subretinal hemorrhage and one eye with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.
“Most of the adverse events are related to the technique of doing the injection or preexisting conditions. If the retina is partially detached, it will detach more,” Martinez-Castellanos said. “As far as systemic events are concerned, we could not say if they were related to bevacizumab or to the prematurity itself.” — by Michela Cimberle
Disclosure: Martinez-Castellanos reports no relevant financial disclosures.