tive vitreoretinopathy (Mulder et al. 2017). Here, we measured aqueous flare in patients with wAMD, diabetic macular oedema (DME), cystoid macular oedema (CME) due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and… Click to show full abstract
tive vitreoretinopathy (Mulder et al. 2017). Here, we measured aqueous flare in patients with wAMD, diabetic macular oedema (DME), cystoid macular oedema (CME) due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and CME related to other retinal disease, including eyes with, for example pseudophakic, myopic and postvitrectomy CME and chronic serous chorioretinopathy. The patients were receiving treatment with antivascular endothelial growth factor injections (anti-VEGF) and analysed according to whether the injections were continued or whether no injections were needed. Aqueous flare values were measured using a laser flaremeter (FM-600,Kowa Company, Ltd., Nagoya, Japan) and a mean of five reliable measurements was used in the analysis. Aqueous flare was measured in the beginning of each visit before the injection or the decision to follow without injection. No dilating drops were installed before themeasurements. All the measurements were performed by an experienced research technician blinded from the treating physician. The study was conducted by monitoring the clinical practice. To patients with wAMD, anti-VEGF treatment (aflibercept or bevacizumab) was given using the treat-and-extend (TER) protocol (n = 189). The need for retreatment was evaluated before each injection, and the treatment interval was gradually extended up to a maximum of 12 weeks. After successfully reaching the 12-week interval, patients with inactive disease (n = 13)were observedwithout treatment. In patients with DME (n = 50),RVO(n = 28)andother retinal disease (n = 14), a fixed-PRN protocol was used. Patients were given three monthly anti-VEGF injections and then evaluated 6 weeks after the last injection regardless of the anti-VEGF agent. In the absence of macular oedema, followupwasorganizedat theoutpatient clinic. Aqueous flare was higher among patient groups during anti-VEGF treatment compared to visits when no treatment was necessary (Table 1). In wAMD patients, flare values were 22.7 35.5 photon units (pu)/ms (mean SD) during treatment versus 10.9 5.2 pu/mswhenno injectionwas given (p < 0.001). In DME patients, the values were 19.7 16.6 pu/ms versus 7.1 2.9 pu/ms (p = 0.009), and in patients with other retinal disease 28.7 31.8 pu/ms versus 6.2 2.2 pu/ ms (p = 0.021) respectively. Our data suggest that aqueous flare reflects retinal disease activity by decreasing during treatment-free periods. Further studies are still warranted to investigate whether aqueousflare canbeused tohelpestimate optimal follow-up interval and risk of reactivation in patients with anti-VEGF injections for retinal diseases.
               
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