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Short-term effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor on peripapillary choroid and choriocapillaris in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration

  • Retinal Disorders
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) on the peripapillary choroid and choriocapillaris in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

Methods

We included consecutive patients who underwent three monthly intravitreal injections of aflibercept or ranibizumab for nAMD, followed by swept-source optical-coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA). Peripapillary choroidal thickness (CT) and vascular density (VD) of the peripapillary choriocapillaris were measured in SS-OCT and OCTA images at baseline and at 1 month after three monthly injections of anti-VEGF.

Results

In 68 eyes of 68 patients with nAMD, peripapillary CT decreased from 124.5 ± 69.9 μm to 116.5 ± 68.2 μm (P = 0.003) after three monthly intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF. The mean vascular density (VD) of the peripapillary choriocapillaris also decreased from 73.99 ± 6.33 to 71.82 ± 6.51 (P < 0.001). The change in the peripapillary choriocapillaris VD was significantly affected by baseline peripapillary choriocapillaris VD, baseline peripapillary CT, and type of nAMD (P = 0.004, P = 0.028, P = 0.015, respectively). The baseline VD of the choriocapillaris was lower in non-responders (median, 70.63; 25–75%, 68.12–71.27) than in responders (median, 75.32; 25–75%, 70.09–79.96) (P = 0.032).

Conclusion

These results suggest that anti-VEGF injection influences the peripapillary choriocapillaris flow out of exudative lesions, and that its effects depend on the baseline status of the choroid and choriocapillaris.

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Funding

This study was funded by a grant from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2017R1D1A1B03033092).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, 73, Inchon-ro, Sungbuk-gu, Seoul, 02841, South Korea

    Boram Lee, Gyeongmin Yoo, Cheolmin Yun & Jaeryung Oh

Authors
  1. Boram Lee
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  2. Gyeongmin Yoo
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  3. Cheolmin Yun
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  4. Jaeryung Oh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jaeryung Oh.

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Conflict of interest

Lee declares that she has no conflict of interest. Yoo declares that she has no conflict of interest. Yun declares that he has no conflict of interest. Oh received research grant from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2017R1D1A1B03033092).

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Lee, B., Yoo, G., Yun, C. et al. Short-term effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor on peripapillary choroid and choriocapillaris in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 257, 2163–2172 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-019-04432-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-019-04432-w

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