Development of intraretinal fluid in neovascular age-related macular degeneration during anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment.

Abstract Purpose : To identify the risk factors of intraretinal fluid (IRF) development during anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Design : Retrospective cohort study. Methods : A total of 425 treatment-naive patients with neovascular AMD who completed 24 months of follow-up were enrolled. All patients were treated with an initial series of 3-monthly loading doses of anti-VEGF injections, followed by further injections as required. Baseline characteristics were evaluated using multivariate modeling to determine the potential risk factors for IRF development. Results : IRF occurred in 40.2% (171/425 eyes) of all participants during the maintenance phase after the loading injections. The development of IRF during follow-up negatively affected visual outcomes, irrespective of the presence of IRF at baseline. Multivariate analysis showed that larger areas of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) (odds ratio [OR], 1.360; P Conclusions : The development of IRF during anti-VEGF treatment for neovascular AMD has additional negative effects on visual outcomes regardless of the presence of IRF at baseline. Baseline risk factors, including CNV size, presence of IRF at baseline, presence of fibrovascular PED, and MNV subtype, may influence the development of IRF during anti-VEGF treatment.