Fundus autofluorescence not predictive of treatment response to intravitreal bevacizumab in exudative age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: Foveal autofluorescence (AF) has been suggested to be a potential predictor of treatment outcome in choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to age-related macular degeneration and could be a useful marker to help prognosticate for patients and for clinical trials. This retrospective study aims to determine if pretreatment foveal AF can predict treatment response to intravitreal bevacizumab monotherapy in CNV secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: Ninety-five eyes (85 patients) with naive CNV secondary to age-related macular degeneration, treated with intravitreal bevacizumab monotherapy were included in this study. Lesion size, CNV type on fluorescein angiography, pretreatment best-corrected visual acuity, and foveal AF pattern (intact/nonintact) were used as predictors. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression were performed using best-corrected visual acuity change and anatomical response at 6 months as the dependent variables separately.

Results: Pretreatment foveal AF (intact or nonintact) did not predict visual outcome (P = 0.17) nor did lesion size (P = 0.2) or CNV type (P = 0.61). Foveal AF did correlate with the visual acuity but it did not predict any treatment response. Pretreatment best-corrected visual acuity was the only predictive factor for the visual outcome (P = 0.043).

Conclusion: Pretreatment AF is not a predictor for the treatment response to intravitreal bevacizumab monotherapy in eyes with CNV secondary to age-related macular degeneration.