ABSTRACT

Pur­po­se:

To evaluate the short-term efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab and pegaptanib Na injection in the treatment of wet type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Ma­te­ri­al and Met­hod:

We retrospectively reviewed the records of 30 patients (30 eyes) who were treated with monthly injections of intravitreal ranibizumab for three months and 30 patients (30 eyes) who were treated with intravitreal pegaptanib Na at 6-week intervals for a period of 18 weeks for wet-type AMD. Baseline clinical findings and demographic data, visual acuity (VA) and central macular thickness (CMT) before and after treatment, and stabilization of VA rate after treatment were evaluated.

Re­sults:

There were no statistically significant differences in age, sex and in terms of baseline types of angiographic lesions between the groups. Following ranibizumab treatment, VA with logMAR changed from 0.83±0.60 to 0.58±0.48. Stabilization of VA was achieved in 96.7% of patients (fewer than 15 letters lost). Mean CMT decreased from 487.23±72.03 µm to 338.70±91.56 µm. There were statistically significant changes in VA and CMT after ranibizumab treatment (p<0.001). Mean VA was 0.78±0.39 logMAR at initial examination and 0.83±0.47 logMAR at the last examination in pegaptanib Na group. Stabilization of VA was achieved in 83.3% of patients. The mean CMT decreased from 483.20±104.48 µm to 454.03±80.47 µm. There were no statistically significant changes in VA (p=0.39) and CMT (p=0.87) after pegabtanib Na treatment. At the end of follow-up, there were no ocular complications such as uveitis, endophthalmitis and glaucoma.

Dis­cus­si­on:

Ranibizumab therapy led to significant improvements in both mean VA and CMT. Patients who received pegaptanib Na treatment had stability of VA, but no improvement in short-term period. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2012; 42: 211-15)