Interpretation of Consensus on the Optimal Treat-and-Extend Regimen of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration(2022 Taiwan, China) / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

ABSTRACT

In 2022, the Taiwan, China fundus disease expert group issued the Consensus on the Optimal Treat-and-Extend Regimens for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration. The following explanations are given to help Chinese ophthalmologists better to refer to and use the Consensus. The main contents are as follows The treat-and-extend(T& E)regimen of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)treatment in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration(nARMD)should aim at maintaining long-term vision and reducing the number of injections. We can start the treatment by injecting once a month for consecutive 3mo. After the initial treatment, the treatment interval of patients with stable conditions can be gradually extended(2 or 4wk each time)until 16wk. If the disease is still steady after injecting 2 or 3 times at the most prolonged interval, we can suspend the treatment, and then the patient needs to be rechecked every 3-4mo; If the disease is active again, the treatment interval needs to be shortened and can be extended again after controlling the disease. We can adopt a relatively conservative approach for patients with apparent negative recovery factors. Complications such as subconjunctival hemorrhage, macular fibrosis and macular atrophy deserve our attention during treatment. In the future, we can explore the best injection scheme for nARMD patients with different subtypes and baseline conditions to realize personalized therapy.