Short-term efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia (PM). Metohds: Retrospective, multicenter, consecutive, nonrandomized, interventional case series. Participants: Twenty-six eyes of 26 patients with CNV secondary to pathologic myopia; 11 eyes with previous photodynamic therapy; and 15 eyes with no previous treatment. Follow-up: 3 or more months. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), ocular coherence tomography, and the presence of metamorphopsia were assessed monthly. Results: At 1 month, 31 % of the eyes had an improvement in visual acuity of 3 or more lines. Twenty-six eyes completed 3 months of follow-up, and nine eyes completed 6 months of follow-up. Visual acuity improved significantly from 20/100 at baseline to 20/80 at 1 month (P = 0.003) to 20/63 at 3 months (P < 0.001), and 20/50 at 6 months (P = 0.01). A significant reduction in ocular coherence tomography central thickness was observed at 1, 3, and 6 months. No cases of severe visual acuity loss occurred, and no systemic or ocular side effects were registered during the follow-up. Conclusion: Short-term results of intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic CNV are encouraging. Further prospective long-term studies are necessary to evaluate safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab in the treatment of myopic CNV.