[Responses to ranibizumab in wet age-related macular degeneration patients with vitreomacular traction].

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to compare the responses to ranibizumab between wet age-related macular degeneration patients, with and without accompanying vitreomacular traction syndrome.

Methods: Our database of optical coherence tomography files was searched for eyes of age-related macular degeneration patients that had been treated with ranibizumab, and that had evidence of vitreomacular traction. A control group was selected from the same database for comparison. The case history of each selected individual was reviewed for data regarding the evolution of visual acuity in that patient, and the number of intravitreal injections that had been required to date.

Results: From a database of 373 eyes, clear images of vitreomacular traction were obtained for a total of 18 eyes. The mean follow-up period was 20.6 months (SD=10.6, range=10.4-31.7). Patients in the vitreomacular traction group had been given an average of 5.1 injections versus an average of 4.2 injections in patients in the control group. The mean changes in visual acuity (which was measured using ETDRS charts) were -15 letters and -4 letters in the vitreomacular traction and control groups (P=.07), respectively.

Conclusions: After ranibizumab treatment, age-related macular degeneration patients with accompanying vitreomacular traction showed a tendency to have a poorer prognosis in terms of visual acuity than patients without this finding. In addition, higher numbers of intravitreal injections were required to obtain clinical responses in patients with vitreomacular traction.