Effect of anti-VEGF drugs combined with photodynamic therapy in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.

Abstract

We analyzed the effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs combined with photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Ninety-six cases (192 eyes) of AMD were included in this study and randomly divided into the observation group and control group (n=48 cases per group). The control group was administered the treatment of Lucentis intravitreal injection alone and the observation group was administered Lucentis combined with PDT. The therapeutic effects were compared. The best corrected visual acuity of patients in the two groups increased gradually after treatment. Patients in the observation group had a significantly higher visual acuity when compared to the control group 1 and 6 months post-operation. The differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The proportion of patients with vision improvement in the observation group was higher than that in the control group from 1 to 6 months; differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Through detection by color Doppler ultrasound within 6 months after treatment, we observed that the peak systolic velocity and arterial end diastolic velocity of retrobulbar optic nerve bitemporal PCA of the observation group were higher than those of the control group. The values of arterial resistance index and pulsatility index of the observation group were lower than those of control group. The differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Six months after treatment, the value of central foveal thickness of the observation group was lower than that of the control group, the value of mean sensitivity of visual field parameter 10° and 4° was higher in the observation group than in the control group, and the absolute value of mean defects in the observation group were lower than that of the control group. In summary, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Anti-VEGF drugs combined with PDT can optimize the overall vision of patients with AMD, improve hemodynamic parameters and reduce visual field defects.