Effectiveness of Anti-VEGF Treatments in Wet AMD in Active Smokers

CHU Brugmann University Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration

Treatments: Other: Medical Data extraction

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04685369

CHUB-Caspers

Details and patient eligibility

About

" Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (wet AMD)" is characterized by the appearance of new choroidal vessels. Several clinical studies have shown the effectiveness of intra-vitreous injections of anti-VEGF (bevacizumab, ranibizumab and aflibercept) against these choroidal neovessels. However, some eyes appear to respond less well or be resistant to anti-VEGF injections, which affects visual acuity. To improve the clinical management of patients with wet AMD, it is important to be able to determine which factors determine the response to anti-VEGF treatment.

Non-modifiable factors such as visual acuity or the patient's age at the time of the first injections, the type and size of choroidal neovascularization, as well as certain genetic polymorphisms are known. Two studies, one carried out in Korean patients, the other in different centers in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland showed that active smoking was associated with a poorer response to intra-vitreous injections of ranibizumab, since smoking is also an already well-known modifiable risk factor for the onset of AMD. Another study in the Netherlands shows a poorer visual prognosis after five years of injection treatment in patients who smoke.

This study aims to study the effect of active smoking on the visual prognosis of patients with exudative AMD and treated with anti-VEGF injections in a Belgian cohort.

Enrollment: 148 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• CHU Brugmann Hospital patients
• Patients who received three intra-vitreous injections of ranibizumab, aflibercept or bevacizumab 4 weeks apart as the first intra-vitreous treatment between January 2016 and December 2020.
• Visual acuity measured before the start of the injections (maximum 1 month) and after the series of three injections (4 to 8 weeks after the last injection)
• Patients whose smoking status is known and for whom the following history appears: hypertension, diabetes, taking anti-coagulants or anti-aggregants.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who have already received another intravitreal treatment in the past.
• Patients who have been treated with dynamic phototherapy before or at the same time as the injections.

Trial design

148 participants in 1 patient group

Active smokers with wet AMD

Treatment:

Other: Medical Data extraction