Real-World Investigation of Impact of Retinal Fluid in Treatment Naive Eyes Treated with Anti-VEGF for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

BackgroundTraditionally, visual acuity gain and central retinal thickness have been used to measure outcomes when investigating the efficacy of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nARMD). However, localization of retinal fluid may offer additional prognostic value for treatment. The primary aim of this retrospective clinical audit was to investigate whether the presence and location of subretinal fluid has an effect on the visual outcomes of treatment naive patients with nARMD treated in the real-world setting with VEGF inhibitors. Secondary aims included investigation of change to visual and anatomical outcomes and investigation of the dosing schedule.MethodsRetrospective observational study of patients attending one suburban and one regional ophthalmology clinic requiring treatment with VEGF inhibitors for nARMD using single-user non-identifiable data from the Fight Retinal Blindness! Registry from 2014 to 2020. Visual acuity (VA) and central subfield thickness (CST) were recorded at baseline, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months.ResultsForty-nine eyes of 42 treatment naive patients were included for analysis (aged 62-89 years). Almost half (49%) presented with a combination of intra- and subretinal fluid at baseline. Intraretinal fluid was present in 75% of eyes but decreased to 22.7% of eyes by 24 months. VA at baseline was 55 letters, and this improved by 6 letters. The change in VA from baseline to 3, 6 and 12 months was statistically significant (p < .05). The mean change in CST from baseline to 3 months was significant (-76 mu m). This change was also observed at the other milestones (p < .001).ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggest that allowing some subretinal fluid to remain will not affect treatment outcomes.