title: Visual performance in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration undergoing treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab.
abstract: Purpose. To assess visual function and its response to serial intravitreal ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nv-AMD). Methods. Forty-seven eyes of 47 patients with nv-AMD, and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) logMAR 0.7 or better, undergoing intravitreal injections of ranibizumab, were enrolled into this prospective study. Visual function was assessed using a range of psychophysical tests, while mean foveal thickness (MFT) was determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Results. Group mean (±sd) MFT reduced significantly from baseline (233 (±59)) to exit (205 (±40)) (P = 0.001). CDVA exhibited no change between baseline and exit visits (P = 0.48 and P = 0.31, resp.). Measures of visual function that did exhibit statistically significant improvements (P < 0.05 for all) included reading acuity, reading speed, mesopic and photopic contrast sensitivity (CS), mesopic and photopic glare disability (GD), and retinotopic ocular sensitivity (ROS) at all eccentricities. Conclusion. Eyes with nv-AMD undergoing intravitreal ranibizumab injections exhibit improvements in many parameters of visual function. Outcome measures other than CDVA, such as CS, GD, and ROS, should not only be considered in the design of studies investigating nv-AMD, but also in treatment and retreatment strategies for patients with the condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry, School of Physics, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland ; Institute of Eye Surgery and Institute of Vision Research, Whitfield Clinic, Waterford, Ireland ; Macular Pigment Research Group, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sabour-Pickett
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Loughman
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stack
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pesudovs
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Meagher
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beatty