title: Retinal pigment epithelium tear after intravitreal aflibercept injection.
abstract: To report a case complicated with a retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) tear after intravitreal aflibercept injection. A 78-year-old man had deteriorated visual acuity in his left eye. Fluorescein angiography showed occult choroidal neovascularization. Optical coherence tomography showed a serous retinal detachment and fibrovascular pigment epithelial detachment. He was diagnosed as typical age-related macular degeneration associated with pigment epithelial detachment and treatment consisting of three consecutive monthly intravitreal injections of aflibercept was planned. A month after the initial injection, his visual acuity had not improved. The red-free photograph showed an area of RPE defect inferior to the fovea. The fundus autofluorescence, fluorescein angiography, and optical coherence tomography clearly demonstrated the presence of an RPE tear. A second injection of aflibercept was performed due to a remaining serous retinal detachment. Although this is a single case and RPE tears may occur as a spontaneous complication of age-related macular degeneration patients, the risk of a tear should be discussed when considering aflibercept treatment for typical age-related macular degeneration patients with pigment epithelial detachment as there might be a risk for developing an RPE tear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itagaki
authors.forename: Yasuharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oguchi
authors.forename: Tetsuju
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sekiryu
keywords: aflibercept; age-related macular degeneration; pigment epithelial detachment; retinal pigment epithelium tear