Universally adoptable injection regimen for anti-VEGF therapy in AMD may be beneficial

A universally adoptable injection regimen for anti-VEGF therapy in the management of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may be needed after researchers noted differences in injection practice patterns of retina specialists resulting in variations in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and center involved (CMT) outcomes.

Researchers analyzed the medical records of 137 patients (172 eyes) with AMD treated with anti-VEGF injections as needed by 4 retina specialists. Each specialist started injections at a similar baseline BCVA and CMT. However, significant differences in mean injection number, injection intervals, and total length of treatments were observed between specialists.

For each of the 4 specialists, the mean change in logMAR BCVA between the first and last injection was -0.05, -0.22, 0.07, and 0.06, respectively, and the mean change in CMT was -53.3, -41.4, -72.7, and -21.9 µm.

“This suggests a need in establishing a universally adoptable injection regimen with possible integration of the confounding factors to reduce burden on both patients and retina specialists,” the study authors concluded.

Reference
Karimaghaei C, Ali A, Safdar N, et al. The Injection Practice Patterns of Retina Specialists in Managing Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Retrospective Study. Clin Ophthalmol. 2023;17:375-383. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S391282. PMID: 36721668; PMCID: PMC9884458.