[Prognostic factors of antiangiogenic therapy response in neovascular macular degeneration]

The apparent success of antiangiogenic therapy in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) shows the significance of effect prognosis and continuous observation.

to study the influence of prognostic factors on the dynamics of functional and morphological response during anti-VEGF therapy in patients with nAMD.

Retrospective analysis of anti-angiogenic therapy results was performed on the data of 1020 patients with nAMD. Some patients were put into two subgroups: 100 patients with retinal pigment epithelium detachment (PED) and 100 patients without PED. Comparative analysis of functional and morphological parameters was performed in the subgroups.

Baseline visual acuity (VA) in patients with PED (0.14±0.1) was significantly (р<0.05) lower than in patients without PED (0.32±0.21) and had negative correlation with PED presence (r=-0.61, р<0.05). By the end of the 12 months follow-up Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) was 0.52±0.28 and 0.62±0.28 (р>0.05) in patients with PED and without PED respectively. Mean number of injections in patients with PED was 5.7±2.5 compared to 3.5±1.2 in patients without PED (р<0.05). After 12 months VA in patients with PED was associated with baseline BCVA (r=0.59, р<0.05), VA after 4th injection (r=0.84, р<0.05) and baseline retinal thickness (r=0.60, р<0.05).

PED in patients with nAMD was shown to be an unfavorable factor associated with significantly lower baseline BCVA that requires careful monitoring. At least three 'loading' injections are required to determine drug responsiveness and acquire functional and morphological response data. Correlation of BCVA values at different timepoints (baseline/after 3 'loading' doses/after 12 month) was found.