Short-term effectiveness of intravitreal bevacizumab vs. ranibizumab injections for patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of intravitreal injections of bevacizumab and ranibizumab in patients with treatment-naive polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

Methods: Records from 106 consecutive patients who received intraviteral bevacizumab (n = 58, 1.25 mg) or ranibizumab (n = 52, 0.5 mg) for treatment of PCV were retrospectively reviewed. After three initial monthly loading injections, injection was performed as needed. The main outcome measures included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), foveal central thickness (FCT) as assessed by spectral domain optical coherence tomography, and the changes in polypoidal lesions based on an indocyanine green angiography.

Results: The average number of injections was 3.31 ± 1.25 in the bevacizumab group and 3.44 ± 0.92 in the ranibizumab group. Mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution of BCVA from baseline to 6 months after injection improved by 0.17 in the bevacizumab group (p = 0.03) and by 0.19 in the ranibizumab group (p = 0.01). Average FCT decreased from 322 ± 62.48 µm to 274 ± 40.77 µm in the bevacizumab group (p = 0.02) and from 338 ± 50.79 µm to 286 ± 36.93 µm in the ranibizumab group (p = 0.02). Polyp regression rate was 20.7% (12 of 58 eyes) in the bevacizumab group and 21.2% (11 of 52 eyes) in the ranibizumab group. There was no statistically significant difference between groups in BCVA improvement achieved, FCT improvement achieved, and polyp regression rate between groups.

Conclusions: Intravitreal injections of bevacizumab and ranibizumab have similar effects in stabilizing of visual acuity, macular edema, and regression of polypoidal complex in PCV eyes over the short term.

Keywords: Bevacizumab; Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy; Ranibizumab.

Fig. 1

Intravitreal bevacizumab and ranibizumab for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: graph showing serial changes in the mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity from baseline to month 6 post-treatment. The differences in time course between the two groups were not significant. There was a significant decrease in logMAR in both groups.

Fig. 2

Intravitreal bevacizumab and ranibizumab for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: graph showing serial changes in optical coherence tomography and mean foveal center thickness (FCT) from baseline to month 6 post-treatment. The differences in time course between the 2 subgroups were not significant. There was a significant decrease in FCT in both groups.