RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Effect of Ranibizumab on Normal Neurosensory Retina in the Eyes of Patients with Exudative Age Related Macular Degeneration
Olga E. Makri1, Demetrios Vavvas2, Panagiotis Plotas1, Athina Pallikari1, Constantine D. Georgakopoulos1, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
First Page: 368
Last Page: 376
Publisher ID: TOOPHTJ-11-368
DOI: 10.2174/1874364101711010368
Article History:
Received Date: 23/08/2017Revision Received Date: 14/12/2017
Acceptance Date: 22/12/2017
Electronic publication date: 29/12/2017
Collection year: 2017
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Anti-vascular endothelial growth factors have become the mainstay treatment for neovascular age related macular degeneration. Prolonged suppression of vascular endothelial growth factor raises concerns as it may result in harmful effects on retina.
Objective:
The purpose of this retrospective chart review is to evaluate the 1-year effect of treatment with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab on normal neurosensory retinal tissue of patients with exudative age related macular degeneration using the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).
Method:
The study included sixty five eyes of 62 patients (32 male and 30 female; mean age 74.97±8.5 years) with exudative age related macular degeneration treated with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab with a pro re nata treatment regimen over a period of 1 year. The MM5 thickness maps acquired with the Optovue RTVue-100 Fourier-domain OCT at baseline, at 3 months, after the 3 loading doses of ranibizumab, and at the 1 year follow-up visit were used for analysis. Changes of inner and outer retinal thickness in four selected points of normal retina on the MM5 scan were evaluated.
Results:
The patients received a mean of 6.4 ± 1.8 (median 6, range 3-11) intravitreal injections of ranibizumab over a period of 12 months. No significant change was observed in inner and outer retinal thickness at pre-selected spots of normal retina during the first year of intravitreal administration of ranibizumab.
Conclusion:
One year treatment with ranibizumab on an individualized, according to need dosing regimen does not seem to induce any detectable structural damage in the unaffected, normal retina.
