Retrospective study of an as required dosing regimen of intravitreal bevacizumab in neovascular age‐related macular degeneration in an Australian population

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab for the treatment of neovascular age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) using an as required dosing regimen. Methods: A retrospective study of 210 patients (231 eyes) with choroidal neovascularization resulting from neovasacular AMD. Patients were treated with 1.25 mg intravitreal bevacizumab at a vitreoretinal practice in Adelaide, South Australia. Patients were followed up at 2–4 weeks and then at 1‐month intervals; repeat injections were offered in the event of recurrence. Recurrence was defined as either a decrease of best‐corrected visual acuity or an increase in macular oedema, subretinal fluid or intraretinal fluid on optical coherence tomography, after complete or partial resolution in previous follow‐up visits. Patient data were collected for 12 months of follow up or until the patient's treatment was changed to ranibizumab. Results: Significant improvement in visual acuity and central retinal thickness was demonstrated at 1 month with an improvement of vision from logMAR equivalent 0.76 to 0.68 (P < 0.001) and a decrease of central retinal thickness from 306 µm to 244 µm (P < 0.001). This overall improvement was continued throughout the 12‐month follow‐up period; however, follow up was poor with 12‐month data available for only a small number of patients (7.8%). Ocular and systemic side‐effects were rare at 3.5% and 0.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Eyes with neovascular AMD treated with intravitreal bevacizumab for up to 12 months had significant functional and anatomical improvement. Further studies need to confirm the long‐term safety and efficacy of this treatment.