Avastin decreases PCV symptoms

Intravitreal injections of bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech) stabilize vision and decrease retinal detachment in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), according to a study published in the May 2008 issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Timothy Y. Y. Lai of the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and colleagues conducted a retrospective review of 15 patients (15 eyes) with symptomatic PCV. At baseline, mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.61 and mean central foveal thickness (CFT) was 347 µm. Subjects received monthly injections of bevacizumab for a three-month period. Mean follow-up was 12.8 months; persistent or recurrent symptoms (subretinal fluid and polypoidal lesions) received further treatment with bevacizumab and/or with verteporfin photodynamic therapy (PDT).

After the initial three months, although mean BCVA improved to 0.51 and mean CFT decreased to 247 µm, polyps remained present in all eyes. Mean BCVA remained stable at 0.51 after follow-up; subjects who had undergone PDT were found to be less likely to have persistent lesions.

The researchers concluded that bevacizumab monotherapy can stabilize vision and improve anatomical factors in PCV, but that adjunctive PDT therapy is necessary for polypoidal lesion regression.