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Review
. 2020 Mar 23:14:897-904.
doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S207978. eCollection 2020.

Issues with Intravitreal Administration of Anti-VEGF Drugs

Marc Schargus  1   2 , Andreas Frings  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Issues with Intravitreal Administration of Anti-VEGF Drugs

Marc Schargus et al. Clin Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To provide an update of summary of risk factors and side effects of long-term use and contamination of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections.

Methods: We reviewed relevant publications of the topic of contamination of anti-VEGF injections and long-term side effects due to this reason.

Results: Due to the long-term use of anti-VEGF drugs and the higher number of injections worldwide, various studies have shown side effects in recent years, ranging from increased intraocular pressure to visual disturbing silicone oil vesicles in the vitreous cavity. Several studies have demonstrated that both the drug and the processing, storage, environmental factors and the material and design of the syringes have a decisive influence on these side effects.

Conclusion: The risks of deposits from syringes in the eye can be significantly reduced by various optimizations in transport, storage and syringe and cannula selection.

Keywords: contamination; intraocular pressure; macular diseases; protein particles; silicone oil; syringes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of three different intravitreal injection syringes. Left: filter cannula and vial of aflibercept with Braun syringe with plugin 30G needle, middle: ranibizumab syringe with luer lock 30G needle design, right: low volume loss compound pharmacy 30G staked-on needle syringe.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prepapillary silicone oil droplet after 30 intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF agent in a patient with wet AMD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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