Abstract

FR.20.05

Lont-term results of intravitreal bevacizumab in eyes with type 2 parafoveal telangiectasia

Gerlinde Matt1, Stefan Sacu1, Christopher Schütze1, Christian Ahlers1, S. Bartsch1, Christian Prünte2, Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth1
1Universitätsklinik für Ophtalmologie und Optometrie, Medizinische Universität Wien, Wien, Österreich; 2Binningen, Schweiz

Objective
Idiopathic parafoveal telangiectasia (IPT) is a rare disease of the macular capillaries. It typically leads to a slowly progressive loss of vision starting in the fifth to seventh decade of life. The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term treatment efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab for eyes with type 2 IPT.
Methods
In this comparative clinical trial, 25 eyes of 14 patients with treatment naive type 2 IPT were included. Mean age of the patients was 59 ± 9 years. Neun eyes were treated with 0,1 ml intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg). The partner eyes with better visual acuity and eyes of patients who refused therapy served as control group (n=16). Follow-up examinations included funduscopy, best-corrected visual acuity (Snellen), fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Retreatment was based on clinical findings and OCT imaging.
Results
Mean follow-up time was 32 ± 7.8 months in the study group and 22 ± 10.9 months in the control group. Baseline visual acuity (Snellen) was 0.48 ± 0.21 in the study group and 0.66 ± 0.32 in the control group. In the study group, visual acuity improved in 5 eyes (56%) ≥ 1 Snellen-line, worsened in 2 eyes (22%) and remained stable in 2 eyes (22%) at the end of follow-up time. In the control group an increase in visual acuity was seen in 5 eyes (31%), a decrease in 10 eyes (63%) and stabilisation in 1 eye (6%) (ChiSquare test, p=0.053).  With regard to visual acuity, there was no significant difference between both groups and compared to baseline (p > 0.05). On average 2 ± 1.2 intravitreal bevacizumab injections were performed in the study group. No complications were observed during the follow-up time. There was no significant change of the retinal thickness in the 1 mm field in both groups.
Conclusions
The treatment of IPT type 2 with intravitreal bevacizumab showed a non-significant, but positive effect regarding visual acuity outcome over a period of 32 months. Further studies with a prospective, randomised study design and larger sample size are needed to confirm the results of this pilot study.

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