Affiliation:
1. Medical Center for Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery "OKO", Kharkiv, Ukraine
Abstract
Age−related macular degeneration is a threatening pathology, gradually leading to a complete loss of central vision, which adversely affects an individual physically and emotionally as well as socially, reducing the life quality of such patients. To analyze the anatomical and functional results of intravitreal injections of aflibercept in the patients with exudative age−related macular degeneration, 47 patients a were prospectively studied. Intravitreal injections of aflibercept were performed by the same surgeon under aseptic operating conditions at a dosage of 2 mg, which was 0.05 ml of the drug. All patients underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination, which included visometry, autoceratorefractometry, tonometry, biomicroscopy, and ophthalmoscopy under medical mydriasis, as well as optical coherence tomography. The study took place before the intravitreal administration of aflibercept, one month after each of the three loading injections, 4, 8, and 12 weeks, respectively, after the start of treatment, and 4 weeks after the fourth injection, which was performed 8 weeks after the third loading. The total follow−up period was 24 weeks. For assessing the anatomical and functional efficiency of the treatment the changes in visual acuity, which were adjusted as well as those in the central retinal thickness according to optical coherence tomography were accepted as the criteria. The treatment results showed a significant increase in visual acuity of patients with the most significant increase in the index at week 12 from the beginning of therapy, as well as to a statistically significant decrease in the central retinal thickness within six months of observation. It is obvious that a consistent use of this drug is necessary to achieve stable treatment results.
Key words: exudative age−related macular degeneration, visual acuity, central retinal thickness, intravitreal antiangiogenic therapy.