In the expert consensus published by the Pediatrics in 2013, it was first proposed that anti-VEGF drugs can be considered for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) with stage 3, zone Ⅰ with plus disease. However, there are many problems worth the attention of ophthalmologists, including the advantages and disadvantages of anti-VEGF therapy compared with traditional laser therapy, systemic and ocular complications after anti-VEGF therapy, and what indicators are the end points of anti-VEGF therapy. Combined with this consensus and numerous research findings, we recommend that the first treatment for anti-VEGF or laser therapy should be considered from disease control effects. For the threshold and pre-threshold lesions, the effect of anti-VEGF therapy for zoneⅡ lesions is better than that for zone Ⅰ lesions and the single-time effective rate is high. So, it is suggested that anti-VEGF therapy should be preferred for the first treatment. The choice of repeat treatment should be considered from the final retinal structure and functional prognosis. Laser therapy is advisable for the abnormal vascular regression slower and abnormalities in the posterior pole. It can reduce the number of reexaminations and prolong the interval between re-examinations. However, the premature use of laser has an inevitable effect on peripheral vision field. Excluding the above problems, supplemental therapy can still choose anti-VEGF therapy again. Most of the children with twice anti-VEGF therapy are sufficient to control the disease. Anti-VEGF therapy should be terminated when there are signs such as plus regression, threshold or pre-threshold lesions controlled without recurrence, peripheral vascularization, etc.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and intravitreal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors in the treatment of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), and to investigate the primary treatment tentatively. MethodsA systematic search of Pubmed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and the Wanfang Data was performed to identify all comparative studies that compared the outcomes of PDT alone, intravitreal VEGF inhibitors alone and combined intravitreal VEGF inhibitors and photodynamic therapy. Outcomes of interest included the regression and recurrence rate of polypoidal lesions, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT), therapeutic times, and the occurrence rate of adverse events. 2 randomized controlled trials (RCT) and 19 non-RTCs were identified. According to treatment methods, the data extracted was classified to 3 groups, analyzed with odds ratio (OR), weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95%confidence interval (95%CI). ResultsMeta-analysis suggests that the regression rate of polypoidal lesions (OR=0.34, 0.07; 95%CI=0.13-0.88, 0.02-0.36) and BCVA (WMD=0.25, 0.11; 95%CI=0.14-0.36, 0.01-0.21) in combined therapy group were significantly better than those in PDT group and intravitreal VEGF inhibitors group (P < 0.05). The recurrence rate of polypoidal lesions in PDT group was significantly lower than intravitreal VEGF inhibitors group (OR=0.35, 95%CI=0.16-0.74, P=0.006). BCVA (P=0.025) and the occurrence rate of adverse events (OR=60.36, 95%CI=6.04-603.50, P=0.000 5) in intravitreal VEGF inhibitors group were significant better than PDT group. ConclusionsCombined treatment appeared to be superior to PDT alone or intravitreal VEGF inhibitors alone. Combined treatment takes priority over all others in the primary treatment of PCV.
ObjectiveTo analyze the influencing factors on clinical response to conbercept for diabetic macular edema (DME).MethodsA total of 51 patients (51 eyes) with DME who underwent intravitreal injection of conbercept were included in this retrospective study. The general information (age, sex, body mass index, smoking history, drinking history), blood glucose indicators (duration of diabetes, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c), blood pressure indicators (history of hypertension, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure), lipid indicators [total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), apolipoprotein A (APOA)], biochemical indicators [neutrophil concentration, hemoglobin (HB), serum creatinine (Scr)] were collected. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and macular central macular thickness (CMT) before and after treatment were comparatively analyzed. CMT reduced not less than 20% and BCVA increased by 2 lines as effective standards. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine the factors affecting the efficacy of intravitreal injection of conbercept in patients with DME.ResultsUnivariate analysis showed that diastolic blood pressure, HDL, serum neutrophil concentration, baseline CMT and baseline BCVA were associated with edema regression (P＜0.05); HbA1c was associated with vision improvement (P＜0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that there was a history of smoking (OR=0.122, 95% CI 0.017 − 0.887), low diastolic blood pressure (OR=0.850, 95%CI0.748 − 0.966), low HDL (OR=0.007, 95%CI 0.000 1 − 0.440), thin baseline CMT (OR=0.986, 95%CI0.977 − 0.995) were independent risk factors for failure outcome of edema regression (P＜0.05); long duration of diabetes (OR=1.191, 95%CI 1.011 − 1.404), high APOA (OR=1.007, 95% CI 1.000 − 1.013) were independent risk factors for failure outcome of vision improvement. Age, fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, TC, HB, Scr and other indicators had no effect on the efficacy of edema regression and vision improvement after treatment (P＞0.05).ConclusionsSmoking history, long duration of diabetes, low diastolic blood pressure, low HDL level, high APOA level and thin baseline CMT are independent risk factors for the treatment of DME with intravitreal injection of conbercept.
The therapeutic effect of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) was determined by a number of factors. Comprehensive thorough analysis of clinical features, imaging results and treatment response can predict the potential efficacy and possible vision recovery for the patient, and also can optimize the treatment regime to make a personalized therapy plan. Precise medicine with data from genomics, proteomics and metabolomics study will provide more objective and accurate biology basis for individual precise treatment. The future research should focus on comprehensive assessment of factors affecting the efficacy of anti-VEGF therapy, to achieve individualized precise diagnosis and treatment, to improve the therapeutic outcome of nAMD.
Intraocular tumors is a serious blinding eye disease, which has a serious impact on patients' vision and even life. At present, the main treatments include surgical treatment, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, laser therapy and combination therapy. In recent years, with the wide application of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the treatment of ocular diseases, many studies have confirmed that anti-VEGF drugs play an important auxiliary role in the treatment of intraocular tumors and its complications. In terms of the therapeutic effect, intravitreal anti-VEGF combined with other methods have a good prognosis in the treatment of choroidal metastatic carcinoma and retinoblastoma, while the therapeutic effect of uveal melanoma is still controversial. In the treatment of intraocular tumor complications, intravitreal anti-VEGF also has a good effect on the secondary lesions of choroidal osteoma and radiation retinopathy. As for drug safety, intravitreal anti-VEGF can significantly reduce the toxic and side effects of systemic chemotherapeutic therapy. However, the dosage and medication regimen of anti-VEGF drugs in the treatment of intraocular tumors and their complications have not been unified in current studies, and further basic and clinical trials are still needed to explore in the future.
ObjectiveTo study the changes the changes of cytokine expression the aqueous humor of patients with macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO-ME) before and after intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR). MethodsA prospective clinical study. From June 2018 to June 2021, 31 eyes of 31 patients with non-ischemic BRVO-ME diagnosed by ophthalmic examination in Department of Ophthalmology, Beijing Hepingli Hospital were included in the study. Among them, 15 males had 15 eyes, and 16 females had 16 eyes. Age was 70 (65, 72) years; the course of disease was 10 (9, 15) days. All of them were first-time patients. All eyes were treated with IVR once a month for 3 consecutive months. At the end of each IVR treatment, 0.1 ml aqueous humor was extracted immediately. The concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in aqueous humor were detected by flow cytometry. The concentrations of cytokines in aqueous humor before and after treatment were compared by Kruskal-Wallis or Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Spearman correlation analysis was performed on the correlation between VEGF and MCP-1 expression level in aqueous humor before treatment. ResultsThe concentrations of VEGF and ICAM-1 in aqueous humor were significantly lower at 1 month after treatment compared with that before treatment, and at 2 months after treatment compared with that at 1 month after treatment (Z=4.03, 3.25, 2.50, 3.48; P＜0.05); the concentrations of IL-6 and VCAM-1 increased and the concentration of MCP-1 decreased, but there was no significant difference (Z=－0.21, 1.42, 0.86, －0.53, 0.92, －1.57; P＞0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that there was a strong positive correlation between VEGF and MCP-1 in aqueous humor before treatment (r=0.78, P＜0.001). ConclusionThe concentrations of VEGF and ICAM-1 in aqueous humor significantly decrease after IVR treatment in BRVO-ME; the concentrations of IL-6, MCP-1 and VCAM-1 do not obviously change.
ObjectiveTo observe the effect of intravitreal injection of Conbercept with two different doses in the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP）and explore the clinical feasibility of ROP treatment by lower dose conbercept.MethodsThis was a prospective study. The premature infants were enrolled with pre-threshold type 1, threshold and acute aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity (AP-ROP) from March 2018 to June 2019, who received fundus screening in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Henan Eye Hospital. They were randomly divided into two groups. The group A (lower dose group) were received intravitreal injection of conbercept with 0.15 mg/0.015 ml, and those in group B (control group) were received intravitreal injection of conbercept with 0.25 mg/0.025 ml. We checked and recorded the lesion area, stage, scope (according to the clock range), additional lesion (plus), etc. Fundus examination should be performed with the pediatric wide-field fundus imaging system within 7 days after treatment. It was used to observe the plus disese, ridge, regression of neovascularization on ridge, and development of retinal vessels to serrated edge or scarring. The follow-up period was at least 24 weeks. The effect evaluation was divided into recovery, improvement, recurrence and aggravation.ResultsThe 43 ROP subjects (84 eyes) were enrolled including 21 cases (40 eyes) in group A and 22 (44 eyes) in group B. There was no significant difference between the two groups in gender (χ2=1.169), birth age (t=0.283), birth weight (t=0.547), hospitalization days in NICU (t=1.187), first examination time (t=1.811), first injection time (t=0.492), follow-up time (t=0.899) and ROP condition (χ2=0.854) (P>0.05). In group A, 21 eyes (52.5%) were cured, 17 eyes (42.5%) were improved, 2 eyes (5.0%) were recurred, and no aggravating cases were found. In group B, 24 eyes (54.5%) were cured, 14 eyes (31.8%) were improved, 6 eyes (13.6%) were recurred, and no aggravating cases were found. There was no significant difference of the cure rate (χ2=2.210, P>0.05) and effective (recovery and improvement) rate (χ2=1.814, P=0.269）between two groups after the first injection.ConclusionIntravitreal injection of conbercept with the two doses should be effective in the treatment of ROP.
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the leading causes of visual impairment in children. As understanding on the pathogenesis of ROP accumulated, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs and their application have changed the treatment mode. Anti-VEGF therapy, with convenient operation and clear efficacy, has become an important treatment method for ROP. However, due to the dysfunction of organs in children with ROP, anti-VEGF drugs can enter blood circulation after intravitreal injection and then lead to temporarily reduction of the VEGF level in the blood, which may theoretically cause adverse effects on the development of all organs (especially the brain) in children with ROP. Therefore, it's necessary to pay attention to the effect of anti-VEGF drugs on neurodevelopment in children with ROP, strictly grasp the indications, and standardize its clinical application, so as to continuously improve the overall prognosis of ROP.
Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs, including monoclonal antibodies (such as bevacizumab and ranibizumab) and fusion protein agents (such as aflibercept and conbercept) have been clinically proven to be effective to treat exudative age-related macular degeneration AMD). However, there are still some patients do not or poorly respond to the initial anti-VEGF agents, usually after several injections, ophthalmologists may switch to another anti-VEGF agent. In general, switching of anti-VEGF agent is considered for recurrent AMD, AMD resistance to anti-VEGF treatments. Current switching protocols include the replacement of monoclonal antibodies with fusion protein agents, the replacement of fusion protein agents with monoclonal antibodies, the substitution of one monoclonal antibody with another one, and the replacement of monoclonal antibodies with fusion protein agents and switching back with monoclonal antibodies. However, current researches on the switching of anti-VEGF drugs for exudative AMD are mostly retrospective and single-arm studies, and there are some differences in the results of different studies. Therefore, for patients with exudative AMD who do not respond to or respond poorly to anti-VEGF drugs, the efficacy of switching of anti-VEGF drugs is uncertain right now. Switching of anti-VEGF agents may improve the retinal anatomical outcome of the affected eye but may not necessarily improve visual acuity. Thus it is an option in the clinical practice to treat AMD. To determine the benefits of above mentioned switching regimens, randomized controlled clinical trials with large sample number and long study period will be needed.
Diabetic macular edema (DME) is one of the common causes of visual impairment. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has become the preferred therapy for DME because of significant visual improvement. Early and intensive anti-VEGF therapy combined with other individualized treatments are currently the main strategy for DME treatment. Considering the complexity of DME and limitations of anti-VEGF therapy, there are still many problems and difficulties in the treatment of DME. Optimizing treatment strategies, strengthening management of the clinical course and developing new drugs, could improve the efficacy and maintain the improvement of visual acuity and visual performance.