[Anti-VEGF therapy for age-related macular degeneration]

To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of aflibercept in treatment of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

The first group included 156 treatment-naive nAMD patients (156 eyes). The second group consisted of 29 patients (38 eyes) with nAMD who had previously received at least 3 loading injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab but exhibited no morphological effect from the therapy. All patients included in the study were treated with 2.0 mg aflibercept. The follow-up period was 13 months.

In the first group, the average number of injections was 5.1±0.39. A change in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) after three loading injections was observed in all eyes of the group and amounted to 0.43±0.2. The final visual acuity was 0.47±0.22. After the first injection, central retinal thickness (CRT) in all patients of the group decreased to 346.14±54.53 μm; by the end of treatment it was 281.64±34 μm. Dry macula was achieved in 109 patients (69.9%), which corresponded to the highest BCVA of 0.84±0.14. In 26 patients (16.7%), subretinal fluid (SRF) remained and visual acuity was 0.57±0.22; 14 patients (9%) had pigment epithelium detachment (PED) and visual acuity of 0.63±0.08. Presence of residual intraretinal fluid (IRF) in 7 patients (4.5%) reliably defined the lowest functional result of 0.1±0.22. In the second group, 100% of patients after the first injection of aflibercept had decreased retinal thickness (by an average of 36.99 μm), while the increase in visual acuity was noted only after 3 injections in 67.5% of the eyes. By the end of the follow-up, CRT was 231.44±18.4 μm, decreased on average by 83.65 μm, and the final BCVA was 0.31±0.19. The number of injections was 5.7±1.7.

Aflibercept can be used as the first choice drug in the treatment of nAMD for it improves the anatomical parameters of the retina and the visual functions.