Comparison of Outcomes between 3 Monthly Brolucizumab and Aflibercept Injections for Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

We compared the short-term outcomes between 3-monthly aflibercept and brolucizumab injections for treatment-naïve polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). A total of 52 eyes were included. Patients received 3 monthly intravitreal aflibercept (<i>n</i> = 38) or intravitreal brolucizumab (...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yoshiko Fukuda, Yoichi Sakurada, Mio Matsubara, Yuka Hasebe, Atsushi Sugiyama, Wataru Kikushima, Kenji Kashiwagi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
Series:Biomedicines
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/9/9/1164
Description
Summary:We compared the short-term outcomes between 3-monthly aflibercept and brolucizumab injections for treatment-naïve polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). A total of 52 eyes were included. Patients received 3 monthly intravitreal aflibercept (<i>n</i> = 38) or intravitreal brolucizumab (<i>n</i> = 14). Indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) was performed at baseline and at the 3-month visit. Selection of anti-VEGF agents depended on time. In the brolucizumab-treated group, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved from 0.27 ± 0.34 (log MAR unit) at baseline to 0.20 ± 0.24 at 3-month visit, which is comparable with the aflibercept-treated group (<i>p</i> = 0.87), after adjustment of confounding factors. Central retinal thickness significantly decreased by 43%−44% in both groups. Subfoveal choroidal thickness also significantly decreased by 20.5% during this interval in the brolucizumab-treated group, which was greater than the aflibercept-treated group. The complete resolution rate of polypoidal lesions on ICGA was significantly higher (<i>p</i> = 0.043) in the brolucizumab-treated group (78.6%) than in the aflibercept-treated group (42.1%). Intraocular inflammation was observed in 14.3% (2/14) in the brolucizumab-treated group only. In short-term follow-up, intravitreal injection of 3-monthly brolucizumab was comparable with aflibercept in terms of BCVA and morphological improvement along with higher resolution of polypoidal lesion(s) on ICGA.
ISSN:2227-9059