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Short-term efficacy of intravitreal aflibercept for patients with treatment-naïve polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

  • Retinal Disorders
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the short-term efficacy of aflibercept monotherapy for patients with treatment-naïve polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

Design

Prospective, consecutive case series.

Methods

Thirty-three consecutive eyes of 33 symptomatic PCV patients (17 men, 16 women, mean age 75 ± 8.7 years), not treated previously, received an intravitreal injection of 2.0 mg of aflibercept monthly for 3 months. Changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings, and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) findings 3 months after initial injection were evaluated.

Results

Compared with baseline, mean BCVA at 3-month visit significantly improved (0.40 ± 0.34 vs 0.22 ± 0.20 log minimum angle of resolution [logMAR] unit, P < 12 0.001). Eight eyes (24 %) showed improvement in BCVA ≥ 0.3 logMAR unit, and no eyes (0 %) showed a decrease in BCVA of ≥ 0.3 logMAR unit. Mean foveal thickness improved significantly (348 ± 184 μm at baseline vs 194 ± 32 μm at 3-month visit, P < 15 0.001). At 3-month visit, 31 eyes (97 %) achieved dry macula evaluated on OCT. Polypoidal lesions disappeared completely on ICGA in 16 eyes (48 %), and the number and/or the size of polypoidal lesions decreased in nine eyes (27 %). The remaining eight eyes (24 %) had unchanged polypoidal lesions. A branching vascular network remained and was unchanged in diameter in all 27 eyes in which it was detected at baseline.

Conclusion

Intravitreal aflibercept was well-tolerated in patients with treatment-naïve PCV over the short-term.

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Acknowledgments

The authors have no proprietary interest in any aspect of this report, and they report no financial support or financial conflict of interest. Involvement in tasks as follows: conception and design of study (S.I.), analysis and interpretation (S.I., K.S.), writing of the article (S.I.), critical revision of the article (S.I., K.S.), final approval of the article (S.I., K.S.), and data collection (S.I.). The current research followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki, and informed consent was obtained from all subjects after explanation of the study protocol. The institutional review board at the Kanazawa University Hospital approved the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 9208641, Japan

    Shigeyuki Ijiri & Kazuhisa Sugiyama

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  1. Shigeyuki Ijiri
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  2. Kazuhisa Sugiyama
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Correspondence to Shigeyuki Ijiri.

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Ijiri, S., Sugiyama, K. Short-term efficacy of intravitreal aflibercept for patients with treatment-naïve polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 253, 351–357 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-014-2707-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-014-2707-2

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