Effect of intravitreal injections due to neovascular age-related macular degeneration on retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and minimum rim width: a cross sectional study.
BMC Ophthalmol
; 24(1): 185, 2024 Apr 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38654214
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
The present study tested the hypothesis that repeated anti-VEGF injections are associated with reduced retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and minimum rim width (MRW) of the optic nerve head. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
Sixty-six patients with a history of intravitreal injections due to neovascular age-related macular degeneration were included. RNFL and MRW were measured using optical coherence tomography (Spectralis OCT, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany).RESULTS:
Mean global RNFL was 90.62 µm and both RNFL as well as MRW significantly decreased with advanced age (p = 0.005 and p = 0.019, respectively). Correlating for the number of injections, no significant impact on RNFL was found globally (p = 0.642) or in any of the sectors. In contrast, however, global MRW was significantly reduced with increasing numbers of intravitreal injections (p = 0.012). The same holds true when adjusted for the confounding factor age (RNFL p = 0.566 and MRW p = 0.023).CONCLUSION:
Our study shows that repeated intravitreal injections due to choroidal neovascularization seem to have a deleterious effect on MRW but not on RNFL. This suggests that MRW is a more sensitive marker than RNFL for evaluating the effect of frequent intravitreal injections on the optic nerve head since it seems to be the first structure affected.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Retinal Ganglion Cells
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Angiogenesis Inhibitors
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Tomography, Optical Coherence
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Intravitreal Injections
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Nerve Fibers
Limits:
Aged
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Aged80
/
Female
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Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Ophthalmol
Journal subject:
OFTALMOLOGIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: