Can Vitreous Reflux Affect The Short-Term Treatment Response After Intravitreal Ranibizumab Injection?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of vitreous reflux (VR) on the short-term effect of intravitreal ranibizumab injection.

The study included 181 eyes of 81 age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and 100 diabetic macular edema (DME) patients. Treatment response was evaluated by measuring central macular thickness (CMT) as well as 1 mm and 3 mm central macular thicknesses (MT1 and MT3). Patients were grouped as; Group 1: no VR, Group 2: <3 mm VR, and Group 3: >3 mm VR according to conjunctival bleb diameters. The data were analyzed using variance, correlation and regression analyses.

In AMD patients, reduction of CMT values following the treatment were 88.3 ± 110.6 µm in Group 1, 85.6 ± 158.7 µm in Group 2, and 93.1 ± 92.2 µm in Group 3. Likewise, in DME patients, it was 82.4 ± 88.4 µm, 72.9 ± 109.9 µm, and 73.7 ± 113.7 µm, respectively. Reduction of MT1 values after the treatment were 47.4 ± 72.6 µm, 36.0 ± 131.9 µm, and 36.7 ± 114.4 µm in AMD patients, and 33.3 ± 72.5 µm, 36.6 ± 90.2 µm, and 46.9 ± 83.4 µm in DME patients. In all comparisons among groups of VR, macular thickness (MT) change did not exhibit significant difference following an intravitreal ranibizumab treatment (p > .05).

We found that the increase in VR amount did not adversely affect the decrease in MT after intravitreal ranibizumab treatment in AMD and DME patients.