A 1-year retrospective review of ranibizumab for naive nonsubfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE: To assess efficacy and safety in the treatment of nonsubfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration with intravitreal ranibizumab.

METHODS: Retrospective, multicentric, noncomparative, interventional case series. We included patients with naïve extrafoveal and juxtafoveal choroidal neovascularization treated with intravitreal ranibizumab and a follow-up of 1 year. Patients were evaluated using visual acuity testing with Snellen charts, fluorescein angiography, and optical coherence tomography scans.

RESULTS: There were 15 patients with a mean age of 72.4 years (SD, 7.2). There were 11 juxtafoveal lesions (73.3%) and 4 extrafoveal lesions (26.6%). Eight lesions were predominantly classic (53.3%), 6 lesions were occult (40%), and 1 lesion was minimally classic (6.6%). The mean visual acuity improved from 20/60 (mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution = 0.47) at baseline to 20/40 (mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution = 0.34) at the 1-year follow-up visit (P = 0.03). The mean foveal thickness improved from 312 microm to 262 microm (P = 0.01), and the mean lesion size (disk areas) improved from 1.9 to 1.1 (P = 0.01). No cases progressed to a subfoveal location. The mean number of injections was 3.8. As complications, we had an endophthalmitis and a macular hole.

CONCLUSION: In our study, intravitreal ranibizumab showed efficacy for the treatment of nonsubfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration mainly in terms of preventing subfoveal progression.