Twelve-week dosing with aflibercept in the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Abstract

Purpose: To review published evidence for a treatment interval extension to ≥12-weeks in neovascular macular degeneration treated with intravitreal Aflibercept. Methods: A systematic search was performed in the NCBI/PubMed database to identify pro-and retrospective studies retrieved by the key terms or and or AND AND and included all papers that used a treat-and-extend (T&E) protocol including a loading phase of 3 intravitreal anti-VEGF injections and a minimal follow-up of 2 years. Disease stability was defined as the absence of any intraocular and absence or stability of subretinal fluid and pigment-epithelial detachment. Results: Four studies were identified that reported information pertaining to disease stability or treatment extension beyond 12 weeks under intravitreal Aflibercept therapy including 1,102 eyes in total. Following a T&E protocol, a mean of 62.9% achieved disease stability and a 6.9 letter gain based on 11.9 injections over 24 months of Aflibercept treatment. As much as 43.0% of all eyes or 64.1% of the eyes with stable disease were maintained on ≥12-weekly injection intervals. Conclusions: A consequent treatment with a null tolerance for intraretinal fluid is prerequisite to induce stability and maintain visual gain after the loading phase. Using Aflibercept in a T&E protocol, disease stability and interval extension to ≥12 weeks were reported in 43% of the eyes by end of the second year with less injections, but similar results as under fix dosing. A lower treatment burden strongly argues for an individualized proactive treatment regimen.