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Review
. 2024 Sep 24;14(10):1220.
doi: 10.3390/life14101220.

Review of Guideline Recommendations for Optimal Anti-VEGF Therapy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Andreea Dana Moraru  1   2 , Ciprian Danielescu  1   2 , Raluca Eugenia Iorga  1   2 , Radu Lucian Moraru  3 , Mihail Zemba  4 , Daniel Constantin Branisteanu  1   5
Affiliations
Review

Review of Guideline Recommendations for Optimal Anti-VEGF Therapy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Andreea Dana Moraru et al. Life (Basel). .

Abstract

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration is a progressive, blinding macular disease that has become a burden both in healthcare systems and the global economy. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the main agent involved in the pathogenic process of the disease. The main goal of the age-related macular degeneration treatment is to maintain and improve visual acuity by injecting intravitreal anti-VEGF agents in either a reactive or proactive manner. Subretinal and intraretinal fluids are the main biomarkers that should be considered when managing the frequency of the therapy. This review discusses both functional and morphological treatment criteria according to current recommendations as opposed to real-life situations encountered during day-to-day clinical practice and highlights situations in which the benefits of continuing therapy are arguable in terms of improving patients' quality of life. Optimizing the treatment regimen represents an important aim of current clinical ophthalmological practice, as age-related macular degeneration patients usually have a long follow-up period.

Keywords: age-related macular degeneration; anti-VEGF therapy; intraretinal fluid; subretinal fluid; treat and extend.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Treat-and-extend algorithm for intravitreal injections in neovascular AMD. Morpho-functional stability is defined as the loss of no more than five ETDRS letters in visual acuity and no fluid or no new fluid on OCT.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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