The effect of intravitreal bevacizumab injection on the corneal endothelial cells

Abstract

Introduction:Bevacizumab (Avastin), as an effectiveness treatment modality, is currently used in patients with various ocular disease. However the results have been promising, the use of bevacizumab in the treatment of ocular disease is an off-label application. Hence, the aim of this study was to systematically review the effectiveness of intravitreal injection of bevacizumab on various ocular tissues, especially corneal endothelial cells. Methods: The articles related to the effect of application of Avastin in the treatment of ophthalmic diseases and especially its effect on corneal endothelial cells were collected and reviewed. We searched PubMed, Google scholar, and Scopus databases and used Avastin, ocular diseases and corneal endothelial cells as search keywords.Result: Of all 55 articles found in all databases, only 10 were relevant to the purpose of this study, and 45 articles were excluded in several step by step process of article selection according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The results revealed that intracameral bevacizumab injection caused no changes in specular microscopy and corneal pachymetry. Moreover, it had no significant toxicity on corneal endothelial cells.Discussion: Effectiveness of bevacizumab as a new modality in the treatment of different ophthalmic diseases have been suggested. Recent data on both human and animal models showed that intravitreal injection of bevacizumab resulted in no significant toxicity on various ocular cells, and it could be considered as a suitable therapeutic approach in clinical use.Conclusion: According to the results of included documents, bevacizumab was not toxic to corneal endothelial cells at various clinically relevant doses.