[Anti-VEGF therapy of wet age-related macular degeneration: analysis of patients lost to follow-up]. / Antiangiogennaya terapiya «vlazhnoi¼ vozrastnoi makulyarnoi degeneratsii: analiz prichin otkaza patsientov ot posleduyushchego nablyudeniya.

Patients lost to follow-up (LTFU) are a well-recognized challenge, both in clinical trials and in real clinical practice. PURPOSE: To study the reasons for patients receiving anti-VEGF therapy for «wet¼ age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) in clinical environment to cease monitoring in the clinic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients with wAMD which received anti-VEGF therapy (ranibizumab, aflibercept) in the Ural State Medical University clinic from 2011 to 2019 (n=241). A subgroup of patients continuing treatment (n=90) was compared with a subgroup of lost to follow up patients (LTFU, n=151, 62.7%). Observation lasting less than 12 months was an exclusion criterion. Statistical analysis included a comparison of demographic and clinical data. The reasons for treatment discontinuation were determined using a phone survey. RESULTS: Characteristic for the LTFU subgroup were shorter duration of the follow-up (p<0.0001), lower number of intravitreal injections (p<0.0001), lower baseline (p<0.0001) and final best corrected visual acuity (p<0.0053) as well as higher values of therapy intensity coefficient (the ratio of the number of intravitreal injections to the duration of the follow-up, p<0.0001). According to the results of the phone survey, the following categories of LTFU were identified: ceased regular monitoring/treatment - 83 (55.0% of the LTFU subgroup), continued treatment in another clinic - 14 (9.3%), deceased - 18 (11.9%), status unknown - 36 (23.8%). The most common causes of LTFU were dissatisfaction with treatment results, financial burden and general comorbidities, which were named by 50, 27 and 17 respondents, respectively. CONCLUSION: In accordance with identified reasons for LTFU, we determined the directions for increasing the effectiveness of wAMD treatment: early diagnosis and start of treatment; using the most effective drugs and therapeutic regimens; increasing the availability of anti-VEGF therapy.

[Protocol of intravitreal drug delivery. Consensus of the Expert Counsil of Retina and Optic Nerve Diseases of the All-Russian Public Organasation «Association of Ophthalmologists¼]. / Protokol vypolneniya intravitreal'nogo vvedeniya lekarstvennykh preparatov. Konsensus Ekspertnogo soveta po zabolevaniyam setchatki i zritel'nogo nerva Obshcherossiiskoi obshchestvennoi organizatsii «Assotsiatsiya vrachei-oftal'mologov¼.

Intravitreal drug administration is a procedure that has become widespread in modern ophthalmology. However, there is no global consensus on certain aspects of this manipulation, and practitioners feel the need for guidelines. In the Russian Federation, until now, such a document was not available. The expert council on diseases of the retina and optic nerve of All-Russian public organization «Association of Ophthalmologists¼, with participation of invited specialists, has studied and analyzed the existing foreign guidelines for performing intravitreal injections, as well as the regulatory framework in Russia. As a result, this Protocol was developed and approved for use in the healthcare system of the Russian Federation. The document regulates the requirements for specialists and organizations, the conditions for performing the procedure and the necessary material resources and presents an algorithm for performing intravitreal drug administration, a patient examination check-list for various conditions of the procedure, as well as parameters for evaluating and monitoring the quality of the procedure.

[Diagnostics of early signs of ocular pathology in patients with HIV/tuberculosis co-infection]. / Diagnostika rannikh priznakov patologii organa zreniia u patsientov s koinfektsiei VICh/tuberkulez.

INTRODUCTION: The current epidemic situation in Russia is characterized by increasing rate of co-infection (HIV/tuberculosis). Damage to the organ of vision is more common among patients with this pathology, presenting significant difficulties in diagnosis of the ophthalmic manifestations. High-tech imaging method - optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows exploration of the eye tissues with high accuracy and depth, as well as evaluation of the structure of the choroid and microcirculation parameters of the anterior and posterior eye segments.