Treatment of vascular activity secondary to atypical choroidal nevus using intravitreal bevacizumab

To report the optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings of 27 eyes treated with intravitreal bevacizumab for intraretinal and subretinal vascular activity associated with atypical choroidal nevi.

This was an Internal Review Board-approved retrospective review of 27 eyes of 27 patients with choroidal nevus treated for secondary vascular activity with intravitreal injections of bevacizumab, performed by a single surgeon (TGM) at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. All patients were rigorously evaluated before the procedure and followed thereafter with ophthalmic examinations, refractive analysis, fundus photos, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and ocular echography. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, dates of bevacizumab injections, and spectral-domain (SD)-OCT findings at each injection were recorded. Macular edema was graded as per SD-OCT findings for the initial and final visit.

The mean age was 66.6 years (range, 40-86 years), with ten males and 17 females. Mean, median, and range baseline best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were 20/53, 20/40, and 20/20-4/200, respectively. After a mean follow up of 29 months, the final BCVA mean, median, and range were 20/50, 20/40, and 20/20-20/400, respectively. The final BCVA ranged from 20/20 to 20/25 in nine eyes, while only six eyes had an initial BCVA within the same range. All patients demonstrated OCT findings of vascular activity suggestive of choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Initial SD-OCT findings included intraretinal cysts in eleven eyes, intraretinal fluid in six eyes, subretinal fluid in 14 eyes, pigment epithelial detachment in six eyes, epiretinal membrane in five eyes, and subretinal neovascularization in 14 eyes. On fundus photos, four eyes presented retinal hemorrhage. A mean of eight (range of 1-31) intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg/0.05 cc) injections were given in all cases. A total of 37% (10/27) of eyes had complete or partial regression of vascular activity. The mean initial OCT classification for macular edema was 3 and a mean grade of 3 was maintained at the final follow-up OCT. All 27 choroidal nevi remained stable, and there were no adverse effects from the bevacizumab injections.

To our knowledge, this is the largest published case series of eyes treated with intravitreal bevacizumab for vascular activity associated with choroidal nevus. Intravitreal bevacizumab seems to be effective in the treatment of CNV secondary to choroidal nevus, and OCT can be a useful tool in the follow up of these patients, to assess the regression of CNV and to monitor macular edema.