gms | German Medical Science

22nd Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society

German Retina Society

26.06. - 27.06.2009, Berlin

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Effects of Ranibizumab in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization attributable to age-related macular degeneration

Meeting Abstract

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  • Simon P. Rothenbuehler - University Eye Clinic of Bern
  • D. Waeber - University Eye Clinic of Bern
  • C. K. Brinkmann - University Eye Clinic of Bern
  • S. Wolf - University Eye Clinic of Bern
  • U. E. K. Wolf-Schnurrbusch - University Eye Clinic of Bern

German Retina Society. 22nd Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society. Berlin, 26.-27.06.2009. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2009. DocRG2009-16A

doi: 10.3205/09rg17, urn:nbn:de:0183-09rg179

This is the English version of the article.
The German version can be found at: http://www.egms.de/de/meetings/rg2009/09rg17.shtml

Published: June 29, 2009

© 2009 Rothenbuehler et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Purpose: To demonstrate not only prevention of vision loss but also improvement in best-corrected visual acuity after intermittent treatment with 0.5 mg intravitreal ranibizumab over 24 months.

Methods: 138 eyes of 138 patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration were treated with 0.5 mg intravitreal ranibizumab (Lucentis; Novartis, Basel, Switzerland). After single initial treatment, follow-up examinations were carried out monthly. Retreatment with single injection was performed in case of one of the following: sign of subretinal fluid or intraretinal edema, increase in central retinal thickness on optical coherence tomography, active choroidal neovascularization on fluorescein angiography, increase of metamorphopsia, and loss of more than 5 letters on ETDRS chart. Main outcome measures were: proportion of eyes gaining 15 or more letters, proportion of eyes losing or gaining less than15 letters, change in central retinal thickness compared to baseline.

Results: After 24 months, 30% of eyes gained 15 or more letters, 55% of eyes lost or gained less than 15 letters. Mean central retinal thickness of 386±45mm at baseline was significantly reduced to 211±39mm after 24 months.

Conclusion: Intermittent treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab was effective in significantly increasing best-corrected visual acuity and significantly reducing central retinal thickness.