LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Efficacy of Psychiatric Treatment to Treat a Specific Phobia of Intravitreal Injections in a Patient with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Photo from wikipedia

Intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) is essential for the treatment of macular diseases such as wet age-related macular degeneration and macular edema. Although continued treatment is needed… Click to show full abstract

Intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) is essential for the treatment of macular diseases such as wet age-related macular degeneration and macular edema. Although continued treatment is needed to maintain good vision, some patients cannot continue such injections for various reasons, including specific phobias. Here, we report a case of a patient with a specific phobia of intravitreal injections who could resume treatment after undergoing combined drug and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). A 74-year-old Japanese man diagnosed with retinal angiomatous proliferation by fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography was treated with intravitreal anti-VEGF injection. However, at 8 months after the first treatment, he became difficult to treat because of a phobia of injections. He was treated with photodynamic therapy, but his macular edema did not improve. After a psychiatric consultation, he was diagnosed with a specific phobia of intravitreal injections. Combined drug and CBT enabled him to resume receiving intravitreal injections. This case demonstrates that a specific phobia of intravitreal injections may benefit from combined drug and CBT. In this regard, some patients with high anxiety and fear of intravitreal injections should be referred to a psychiatrist at an early stage.

Keywords: specific phobia; age related; related macular; treatment; intravitreal injections; phobia intravitreal

Journal Title: Case Reports in Ophthalmology
Year Published: 2021

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.