The Efficacy of Ranibizumab for Choroidal Neovascularization in Age-related Macular Degeneration

Seungbum Kang; Won Kyung Cho; Young Jung Roh

doi:10.3341/jkos.2009.50.5.725

Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.50(5) > 1008551

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Kang, Cho, and Roh: The Efficacy of Ranibizumab for Choroidal Neovascularization in Age-related Macular Degeneration

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2009;50(5):725-730.

Published online: 7 September 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2009.50.5.725

The Efficacy of Ranibizumab for Choroidal Neovascularization in Age-related Macular Degeneration

Seungbum Kang, MD, Won Kyung Cho, MD, Young Jung Roh, MD

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Address reprint requests to Young Jung Roh, MD Department of Ophthalmology, St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea #62 Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 150-713, Korea Tel: 82-2-3779-1243, Fax: 82-2-761-6869, E-mail: youngjungroh@hanmail.net

Received 11 September 2008 Accepted 30 December 2008

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To report 1-year clinical changes in visual acuity (VA) after intravitreal ranibizumab therapy for choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and to determine differences in treatment effects according to the CNV subtype.

Methods

Forty six patients (46 eyes) with subfoveal CNV were treated with intravitreal ranibizumab (0.5 mg) injections as needed. Visual acuity, fluorescein angiography, and macular OCT were examined after 12 months. The patients were divided into two groups: Classic CNV and occult CNV. The VA of the two groups was compared 12 months after the initial injections.

Results

The average VA and mean central retinal thickness (CRT) before ranibizumab treatment was 1.011±0.408 logMAR and 335.3 μ m, respectively, and the VA and mean CRT 12 months after the initial injections was 0.928±0.357 logMAR and 246.2 μ m, respectively (p=0.042, p＜0.001). Out of 46 eyes, 13 eyes (28.3%) had a VA that improved by more than 0.1 logMAR, 33 eyes (71.7%) had VA that changed less than 0.1 logMAR, and 40 eyes (86.6%) had a VA that changed by less than 0.3 logMAR. The VA improved to 0.084 logMAR in classic CNV (18 eyes) and to 0.081 logMAR in occult CNV (28 eyes) after 12 months, though the difference between groups was not significant (p=0.910).

Conclusions

Intravitreal injection of ranibizumab is an effective treatment for patients with subfoveal CNV secondary to AMD to improve or stabilize VA, and the effect of treatment on VA is not significantly different according to the CNV subtype.

Keywords: Age-related macular degeneration, Choroidal neovascularization, Ranibizumab

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Figure 1.

Change in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity over 12 months of 46 eyes treated with intravitreal injection of ranibizumab for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration. The change of logMAR visual acuity after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab was statistically significant through 12 months (repeated measure ANOVA, ^* p<0.05).

Figure 2.

Change in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity over 12 months of 46 eyes treated with intravitreal injection of ranibizumab for classic (n=18) and occult (n=28) subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNVM) in age-related macular degeneration. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean change of visual acuity between the two groups (Mann-Whitney test, p=0.910).

Table 1.

Optical coherence tomography central retinal thickness (CRT) of eye with neovascular age-related macular degeneration treated with intravitreal injection of ranibizumab through 12 months

	Baseline CRT (μm)(n=46)	Month 1 CRT (μm)(n=43)	Month 3 CRT (μm)(n=41)	Month 6 CRT (μm)(n=40)	Month 12 CRT (μm)(n=43)
Mean± SD	335.3±92.1	201.2±79.9	187.5±82.1	221.4±91.0	246.2±102.7
p-value^*		p<0.001	p<0.001	p<0.001	p<0.001

^* paired Student t-test.

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