Outcomes of a 2-year treat-and-extend regimen with aflibercept for diabetic macular edema

Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 24;11(1):4488. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83811-y.

Abstract

This prospective, open-label, single-arm, non-randomized clinical trial, assessed the efficacy of a 2-year treat-and-extend (T&E) regimen involving intravitreal aflibercept injection (IAI), with the longest treatment interval set to 16 weeks, and adjunct focal/grid laser in diabetic macula edema (DME) patients. We examined 40 eyes (40 adults) with fovea-involving DME from 8 Japanese centers between April 2015 and February 2017. Participants received IAI with an induction period featuring monthly injections and a subsequent T&E period featuring 8-16-week injection interval, adjusted based on optical coherence tomography findings. The primary endpoints were mean changes in the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield macular thickness (CST) from baseline. Thirty patients (75%) completed the 2-year follow-up. The mean BCVA and CST changed from 60.5 ± 15.6 letters and 499.2 ± 105.6 µm at baseline to 66.6 ± 17.1 letters (P = 0.217) and 315.2 ± 79.0 µm (P < 0.001), respectively, after 2 years. The treatment interval was extended to 12 and 16 weeks in 6.7% and 66.7% of patients, respectively, at the end of 2 years. The T&E aflibercept regimen with the longest treatment interval set to 16 weeks, with adjunct focal/grid laser may be a rational 2-year treatment strategy for DME.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Diabetes Mellitus / metabolism
  • Diabetic Retinopathy / drug therapy*
  • Diabetic Retinopathy / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intravitreal Injections
  • Laser Coagulation / methods
  • Macula Lutea / drug effects*
  • Macula Lutea / metabolism
  • Macular Edema / drug therapy*
  • Macular Edema / metabolism
  • Male
  • Prospective Studies
  • Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / therapeutic use*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / therapeutic use*
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / metabolism
  • Visual Acuity / drug effects

Substances

  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
  • aflibercept
  • Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor