Prevalence of outer retinal tubulation after anti-VEGF therapy for age-related macular degeneration

To assess whether there is a correlation between anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy and the incidence of outer retinal tubulation (ORT) in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

A retrospective review of all patients at the Cole Eye Institute who received anti-VEGF injections for exudative AMD and underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) evaluation was performed. A total of 543 patients were identified and included in the study. The number of treatments and the change in Snellen visual acuity from the time of diagnosis until the development of ORT were tabulated.

Seventy individuals with ORT were identified. The data analyzed showed a wide variation in the number of treatments until the development of ORT and did not show a significant correlation between ORT incidence and decreased visual acuity.

Although a correlation was found between the increased incidence of ORT and length of anti-VEGF treatment, there was no evidence of decreased visual acuity, which suggests that the ORT might be benign.