title: Intravitreal aflibercept treatment in eyes with exudative age-related macular degeneration following prior treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate visual and anatomical outcomes in eyes with exudative age-related macular degeneration treated with intravitreal aflibercept following prior treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective, single-center study of 192 eyes treated with 0.5 mg intravitreal ranibizumab every 4 weeks for three consecutive doses followed by a variable dose schedule. After more than 12 months of ranibizumab treatment, eyes that required ranibizumab injections at 4-week or 6-week intervals were switched to aflibercept therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 12-69 months (42 months ± 18 months, mean ± standard deviation [SD]) of treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab, 80 eyes were changed to 2 mg intravitreal aflibercept treatment with follow-up after 12-18 months (16 months ± 1 month, mean ± SD). Thirty-nine eyes had persistent macular fluid after treatment with ranibizumab. Mean logMAR visual acuity (VA) in eyes treated with ranibizumab changed by - 0.089 ± 0.310 (mean ± SD; P = 0.0003), which correlates to an approximate gain of 4.5 letters. The number of eyes with macular fluid decreased from 39 to 23 after aflibercept treatment. Mean logMAR VA in eyes with intraretinal macular fluid treated with aflibercept changed by -0.079 ± 0.134 (mean ± SD; P = 0.006), which correlates to an approximate gain of 4 letters. Mean logMAR VA in eyes with submacular fluid was not significantly different after aflibercept treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Eyes with persistent intraretinal macular fluid had visual and anatomic response after changing from ranibizumab to aflibercept treatment.
authors.affiliation: South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology, Discipline of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
authors.forename: Daniel Sanju
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Narayan
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muecke
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D058449:Intravitreal Injections; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000069579:Ranibizumab / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D058471:Subretinal Fluid; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; C533178:aflibercept; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; D000069579:Ranibizumab