PDT+triamcinolone acetonide = reduced re-treatments

Using photodynamic therapy (PDT) and high-dose intravitreal triamcinolone to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) associated with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) stabilizes vision and reduces the need for re-treatments, according to the results of a study published in the April/May issue of Retina Journal.

Jose Ruiz-Moreno and colleagues from the Miguel Hernández University School of Medicine, Alicante, Spain conducted a prospective, consecutive, comparative, non-randomized interventional case series of 30 patients (30 eyes) with subfoveal CNV associated with AMD. Each subject was treated with PDT followed by an intravitreal injection of 19.4±2.1 mg triamcinolone acetonide. Fifteen eyes were naïve to treatment (group 1) while 15 had previously been treated with PDT alone (group 2). Fifteen patients treated with PDT alone served as the control group.

By the two-year follow-up, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) had not changed significantly in group 1 (0.0±3.4; p=0.81); group 2 had lost and average of -0.6±2.5 lines (p=0.41) and the control group had lost an average of -2.2±3.4 lines. The mean number of PDT sessions during the 24-month follow-up was 1.9, 1.2 and 3.9 for group 1, group 2 and the control group, respectively.

The authors believe that PDT combined with high-dose intravitreal trimacinolone acetonide can help stabilize BCVA and reduce the need for re-treatments.