Patient characteristics and treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration in France: the LUEUR1 observational study.
BACKGROUND
Age-related macular degeneration is the primary cause of blindness in developed countries. Current treatments of this degenerative disease mainly include laser, photodynamic therapy with verteporfin and administration of anti-vascular endothelial growth factors. The LUEUR (LUcentis® En Utilisation Réelle) study is composed of a cross-sectional part (LUEUR1), which examined the current management of wet AMD in France, and a follow-up part (LUEUR2), which will assess the development of patients treated for wet AMD over 4 years. Here we describe the results of LUEUR1.


METHODS
Patients with wet AMD were enrolled during a routine medical examination in LUEUR1, a cross-sectional, observational, prospective, multicentre study. Investigators recorded patient demographics, visual acuity, characteristics of wet AMD lesions, date of AMD diagnosis, comorbidities, previous treatments, treatments prescribed at inclusion, and low vision rehabilitation.


RESULTS
A total of 72 investigators recruited 1,019 patients with wet AMD, corresponding to 1,405 eyes affected by the disease. The mean age of patients was 78.7 ± 7.3 years. Most were female (62.3%) and non-smokers (66.9%). The mean visual acuity was 49.12 ± 24.18 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters. Most eyes showed occult (52.8%) and subfoveal (84.6%) choroidal neovascularisation. Bilateral wet AMD affected 37.9% of patients. The median time since diagnosis was 12 months. Ranibizumab-based therapy (67.3%) and photodynamic therapy (29.8%) were the most frequent previous treatments. Prior to inclusion, 5.6% of patients had low vision rehabilitation. When a treatment was prescribed on the day of inclusion, it was most often ranibizumab (89.0% of all treatments at inclusion).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study illustrate the impact of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies on the treatment of wet AMD in a real-life context. Specifically, ranibizumab-based therapy appears to have largely replaced laser photocoagulation and verteporfin-based photodynamic therapy.
Centre Ophtalmologique d'Imagerie et de Laser, Paris, France.
Salomon-Yves
SY
Cohen
Eric H
EH
Souied
Michel
M
Weber
Gérard
G
Dupeyron
Gérard
G
de Pouvourville
Michel
M
Lievre
Anne
A
Ponthieux
D000368:Aged; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000069579:Ranibizumab; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology
D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D000069579:Ranibizumab