Objective: To evaluate the short-term safety of intravitreous bevacizumab (Avastin) and its effects on visual acuity (VA) and subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (ARMD).
Methods: Single-center, uncontrolled clinical study. Five ARMD patients (5 eyes) with subfoveal CNV and best-corrected VA (BCVA) less than 0.1 were participated. Patients were treated with an intravitreous injection of bevacizumab (1.5 mg, 0.06 ml). Ophthalmologic evaluations included BCVA test, ocular examination, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and fluorescein angiography (FFA).
Results: There were no ocular or systemic adverse events observed, except a mild elevation of IOP [26 mm Hg (1 mm Hg = 0.133 kPa)] in 1 case on the 3rd day after injection, which was controlled by topical medication. One out of 5 eyes had a significant improvement of BCVA (from 0.1 improved to 0.4) in one week after injection. By 2 months, the BCVA increased in 4 cases (increased 1 to 6 lines) and 3 of them remained stable for 4 to 6 months and 1 decreased at the 4 th month post injection. The thickness of central retina reduced 5.9% to 41.4% and FFA revealed a remarkable reduction or an absence of leakage from CNV in 3 eyes by the 4th month.
Conclusion: Our preliminary results are promising, showing that intravitreous bevacizumab therapy is well tolerated with an improvement in VA, OCT, and FFA outcomes. A multi-center randomized controlled clinical trial is needed to evaluate the long-term safety and effectiveness of intravitreous bevacizumab therapy on neovascular ARMD.