Purpose: To evaluate the effect of intravitreal aflibercept injections in treatment-naive type 3 neovascularization using a fixed treatment regime during the first year of therapy.
Methods: Fourteen eyes of 14 patients diagnosed with type 3 neovascularization were studied. All patients were treated with intravitreal aflibercept injections using a fixed treatment regime of 3 consecutive monthly dosages followed by 2-month interval injections. Results were assessed after a 12-month follow-up period. Changes of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT), central macular volume (CMV), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) atrophy at fundus autofluorescence and infrared reflectance images were recorded and analyzed.
Results: BCVA improved from 60.3 ± 11.7 ETDRS letters at the baseline to 70.9 ± 10.3 ETDRS letters at 12-months follow-up (p = 0.036). Also, CRT and CMV statistically improved after the treatment (from 425 ± 117 to 308 ± 117 µm [p = 0.031] and from 9.52 ± 1.90 to 8.29 ± 0.95 mm3 [p = 0.073], respectively). In 4 patients, development and progression of RPE atrophy were observed, and it was associated with the presence of serous pigment epithelium detachment at the baseline. Furthermore, the development of a fibrotic lesion eccentric to the fovea was observed in 5 patients, without significant impairment of BCVA (p = 0.290).
Conclusion: Intravitreal aflibercept administered in a fixed treatment regime during the first year of therapy may be effective for the improvement and stabilization of BCVA in eyes with type 3 neovascularization. However, RPE atrophy and subretinal/intraretinal fibrosis can develop during the treatment.
Keywords: Aflibercept; Age-related macular degeneration; Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor; Optical coherence tomography; Retinal angiomatous proliferation; Type 3 neovascularization.
© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.