title: [Assessment of the effectiveness and safety of ranibizumab in neovascular age-related macular degeneration].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neovascular Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) is a chronic and degenerative disease. Current treatment options are limited and have shown to slow disease progression. The aim of this study was to assess Ranibizumab effectiveness and safety and to describe patients' demographic and clinical characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective observational study including all patients who had started treatment between 1/12/2006 and 31/12/2008, and were followed up until 31/03/2009. A bivariate analysis on months 4, 12 and 18 and two logistic regression models were performed to analyze the influence of demographic and clinical factors on the effectiveness and durability of treatment. Adverse reactions were collected as described in the medical records to assess safety.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 126 eyes of 112 patients were recruited. The mean age was 77.7 (± 6.0) years. The mean durability of treatment was 18.2 months, and it was higher in the group of patients who started treatment with visual acuity (VA) > 0.1 (p<0.001). Ranibizumab therapy maintained AV over baseline at 18 months. None of the studied variables showed any influence on treatment effectiveness. However, baseline visual acuity influenced on treatment duration, being higher in the group of patients with AV > 0.1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ranibizumab was shown to be effective until 18 months. Early diagnosis of AMD could lead to an earlier treatment start, when patients present a higher AV, in order to optimize the benefits of treatment. Ranibizumab was well tolerated and safe in most patients.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, España. jmreal@salud.aragon.es
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Real Campaña
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carrera Lafuentes
authors.forename: Clemencia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Torrón Fernández-Blanco
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huarte Lacunza
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Varela Martínez
authors.forename: M José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rabanaque Hernández
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D000069579:Ranibizumab; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000069579:Ranibizumab