2Gazi Üniversitesi, Göz Hastalıkları A.D., Ankara, Doç. Dr.
3Gazi Üniversitesi, Göz Hastalıkları A.D., Ankara, Araşt. Gör. Dr.
4Gazi Üniversitesi, Göz Hastalıkları A.D., Ankara, Prof. Dr. Purpose: To determine the anatomical and visual responses to intravitreal bevacizumab injection (IVB) monotherapy and the combination of IVB with photodynamic therapy (PDT) in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study that involved treatment of naive eyes with neovascular AMD. The eyes were divided into 2 groups: the 1st group received only IVB and the 2nd group received IVB+PDT. An activity score (AS) was given to each lesion during all visits. Student’s t test and chi-square test were used for the comparison of parameters.
Results: A total of 53 eyes were involved in the study. Mean follow-up time was 12.3 months. There was no significant difference with respect to lesion type, visual acuity, or central foveal thickness between the groups before treatment. After treatment AS decreased significantly in the two groups (p<0.05). Visual acuity was the same or increased in 92.5% of the eyes in group 1 and in 88.5% of the eyes in group 2 (p>0.05). The mean number of IVB/eye was 2.7 in group 1 and 2.6 in group 2 (p>0.05).
Conclusion: IVB+PDT combination therapy seems not to be superior to IVB monotherapy with respect to visual acuity or retreatment needs in neovascular AMD. An activity scoring-guided strategy may help to determine the need for retreatments.
Keywords : Bevacizumab, photodynamic therapy, combination therapy, age-related macular degeneration, anti- VEGF therapy