Summary of Recent Studies

  • A small study used intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) on twenty- two eyes of 22 patients with CNV secondary to high myopia. Fifteen (68.2%) eyes had an improvement of 2 or more lines of visual acuity at 6 months.2 No ocular or systemic complications were noted after intravitreal injections. The 6 month outcome suggests that bevacizumab (Avastin) may be a promising treatment option for CNV secondary to high myopia, resulting in both visual and anatomic improvements.2
  • Another small series of eyes with limited follow-up, using intravitreal ranibizumab (Lucentis) demonstrated a safe and effective treatment for CNV secondary to high myopia as well, also resulting in functional and anatomic improvements. This study included 14 eyes of 14 patients. Nine patients (64%) demonstrated a gain of 3 or more lines.1
  • A larger study used Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) with verteporfin in nonsubfoveal CNV of 100 eyes of 97 consecutive patients who were followed for 3 to 44 months. On average, visual acuity was stable throughout the follow-up after modest increase of about 0.5 lines between three and six months. The probability of losing 3 or more lines was 10% to 15% during the second year.5 Visual and anatomic outcomes of PDT, in this large group of patients with nonsubfoveal myopic CNV and good visual acuity, suggest that it may halt the progression of the disease in some cases.5