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Changes in ocular blood flow in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab biosimilar and brolucizumab

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess ocular blood flow (OBF) changes in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab biosimilar (IVRbs) or brolucizumab (IVBr).

Methods

This retrospective longitudinal study included 43 eyes of 43 patients (74.5 ± 9.8 years old, male to female ratio 31:12) with nAMD treated with IVBr (29 eyes) or IVRbs (14 eyes). OBF in the optic nerve head (ONH) and choroid (Ch) was measured with laser speckle flowgraphy (Softcare Co., Ltd., Fukutsu, Japan) before and one month after treatment. Changes in mean blur rate (MBR) before and after each treatment were tested using Wilcoxon’s signed-rank tests and mixed-effect models for repeated measures.

Results

In the IVBr group, MBR was significantly reduced in both the ONH and Ch (p < 0.01). In contrast, the IVRbs group showed no significant change in MBR in either the ONH or Ch (p = 0.56, p = 1). The linear mixed effect model showed a significant interaction between time and anti-VEGF drugs for MBR in both the ONH and Ch (ONH: p = 0.04; Ch: p = 0.002). A post hoc pairwise comparison of estimated marginal means showed that MBR decreased significantly only after IVBr (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that the short-term impact on OBF varies depending on the drug used for nAMD.

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Data availability

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was supported by JST grants from JSPS KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (M.Y. 23K09055 and H.K. 17K11445). The funders had no role in the design or conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors thank Mr. Tim Hilts for editing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology Sendai, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-Machi, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8574, Japan

    Hiroki Takizawa, Masayuki Yasuda, Keisuke Hoshi, Tatsu Okabe, Hiroshi Kunikata & Toru Nakazawa

  2. Department of Retinal Disease Control, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    Hiroshi Kunikata & Toru Nakazawa

  3. Department of Ophthalmic Imaging and Information Analytics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    Toru Nakazawa

  4. Department of Advanced Ophthalmic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    Toru Nakazawa

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Contributions

M.Y. designed and conducted the study. H.T., K.H., T.O., H.K., and T.N. contributed to preparation, collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data. T.N. approved the manuscript. H.T. and M.Y. wrote the main manuscript text. H.T. prepared all tables and all figures, and all authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Toru Nakazawa.

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Takizawa, H., Yasuda, M., Hoshi, K. et al. Changes in ocular blood flow in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab biosimilar and brolucizumab. Int Ophthalmol 44, 181 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-024-03107-8

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