Background

The article discusses the effectiveness of aflibercept treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, carried out in routine clinical practice for at least 12 months as part of the treatment program.

Material and methods

Ninety-four patients (95 eyes) with a median age of 79.0 years participated in the non-randomized, retrospective, observational, single-center study. Women accounted for 59.6% of the study group. Forty-four (46.3%) eyes were treatment-na・e, and 51 (53.7%) eyes continued previous treatment. The na・e eyes were treated according to the VIEW protocol, and eyes continuing therapy were treated using a pro re nata regimen. The median duration of participation in the study was 13.4 months (IQR=13.1・3.6 months).

Results

The mean change in best corrected visual acuity was 8.41 ETDRS letters (standard deviation [SD]=13.76 letters) when considering all study participants, 9.36 letters (SD=10.88 letters) for treatment-na・e eyes, and 7.59 letters (SD=15.90  letters) for those continuing treatment. There was no significant difference between treatment-na・e eyes and those continuing treatment (p=0.523). The median central retinal thickness was significantly reduced from 302.0 μm to 238.0  μm (IQR=203.5・68.0 μm; p<0.001). The median number of aflibercept injections was 8.0 (IQR=7.0・.0).

Conclusion

The regular treatment of patients with aflibercept in daily practice and according to the VIEW protocol produces results that are comparable to those of randomized clinical trials. Regular aflibercept therapy allows for a significant improvement in functional and morphological parameters regardless of the stage of the disease, both in treatment-na・e eyes and in eyes continuing treatment.