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Study: Choroidal thickness may predict efficacy of ranibizumab for AMD
Researchers found that subfoveal choroidal thickness was a potential predictor of visual outcomes of intravitreal ranibizumab injections in patients with age-related macular degeneration.
This retrospective study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology comprised 40 eyes and 37 patients who completed 6 months of follow-up. Kang and colleagues collected patients’ medical records data, including best-corrected visual acuity.
Subfoveal choroidal thickness at baseline, 3 months and 6 months was measured by enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography and adjusted for age and sex before analysis. Treatment response was after three monthly intravitreal ranibizumab injections. The responder group was defined as a 100 µm or more decrease or complete resolution of subretinal fluid, and nonresponders were defined as changes less than 100 µm or a more than 100 µm increase of subretinal fluid by OCT.
The researchers found that the responder group had thicker subfoveal choroid and smaller lesions at baseline than the nonresponder group. The responder group showed better best-corrected visual acuity and thicker subfoveal choroid than the nonresponder group at 3 months and 6 months, according to the abstract.
Researchers concluded that subfoveal choroidal thickness was significantly correlated with visual outcome and treatment response and may be a predictive factor for treatment response in typical exudative AMD after intravitreal ranibizumab injections.
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Am J Ophthalmol. 2014;doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2014.01.019