The effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (avastin) administration on systemic hypertension

Abstract

Aims: To determine the short-term effect of intravitreal bevacizumab administration on systemic blood pressure levels of patients and to evaluate the safety of the drug in these patients. Methods: Study population was divided into two groups: group A comprised patients who had hypertension and were under medication with antihypertensive drugs; group B comprised patients with normal blood pressure and were not under medication with antihypertensive drugs. All patients were graded according to their blood pressure levels before single dose of bevacizumab (0.05 ml; 1.25 mg) injection, and at day 1 and weeks 1, 3, and 6 thereafter. The blood pressure levels were analysed using repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA). A P-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The study population included 82 patients with a mean age of 67.2±5.2 years. In group A, the systolic blood pressure levels showed significant increases at weeks 1, 3, and 6 (P=0.001, P<0.001, and P=0.003, respectively) compared with baseline. Similarly, diastolic blood pressure levels were significantly higher at weeks 3 (P<0.001) and 6 (P=0.016). In group B, the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels showed significant elevations only at week 3 (P=0.004 and P<0.001, respectively). The percentages of both group A and B patients with normal blood pressure decreased at week 3 compared with baseline (P<0.001 and P=0.012 for groups A and B, respectively). Conclusions: The findings of this study show that there is a risk of disregulation of blood pressure levels or persistence of hypertension in hypertensive patients after intravitreal bevacizumab injections. © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.