Assessment of three successive treatments of ranibizumab on neovascular macular degeneration by OCT angiography

In the present study, the efficacy of three consecutive anti-VEGF treatments in patients with neovascular macular degeneration (nAMD) was assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A). A total of 23 eyes with nAMD were treated with intravitreal injections (IVIs) of ranibizumab once a month for three consecutive months. There were eight follow-up time-points: Prior to the initial IVI and on days 1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90 after the first IVI. The follow-up examinations consisted of measurements of the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the height of retinal pigmented epithelium detachment (RPED), the greatest linear dimension (GLD), choroidal neovascularization (CNV) flow area, whole retinal thickness and four-quadrant retinal thickness. The results indicated that, when compared with the baseline, the BCVA gradually improved after IVI and improved significantly on days 60 and 90 (P<0.05); the RPED and GLD improved after IVI, with a significant improvement on days 30, 60 and 90 (all, P<0.05); the CNV flow area was gradually shortened in the early stage after IVI but rebounded on day 30, while the difference was statistically significant on day 14 (P<0.05). The temporal retinal thickness was statistically significant on day 30 (P<0.05) and there were statistically significant differences in nasal and inferior retinal thickness on days 14 and 30 compared with prior to IVI (all, P<0.05). The BCVA was positively correlated with the RPED, GLD, CNV flow area and nasal retinal thickness (all, P<0.05). In conclusion, OCT-A may provide an effective reference to guide the evaluation, treatment and monitoring of nAMD. The present study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (CChiTR; no. ChiCTR1900023607; http://www.chictr.org.cn/listbycreater.aspx).