Intravitreal bevacizumab therapy for choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration: 6-month results of an open-label uncontrolled clinical study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the 6-month safety and clinical outcomes of intravitreal injections of bevacizumab administered to treat choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients underwent 1.25 mg intravitreal injections of bevacizumab at baseline. A similar intravitreal injection was administered to all eyes at 1 and 2 month follow-up visits. At baseline and at each follow-up visit (1, 2, 3, and 6 months), patients underwent best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) measurement, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography. Laboratory testing, visual field analyses, and endothelial cell counts were performed at baseline and third and sixth months. RESULTS: At 3 months, the mean BCVA remained substantially stable at 20/100. Mean central retinal thickness (CRT) decreased from 373 to 279 microm (p<0.01). Mean lesion greatest linear dimension (GLD) decreased from 4087 to 3782 microns (p<0.01). At 6 months, mean BCVA slightly decreased from 20/100(-1) to 20/125(-3) (not significant, p=0.40). Mean CRT was still inferior to baseline (305 microm, p<0.01). Mean lesion GLD was 4186 microm, not different from baseline values (p=0.59), but superior to 3-month mean GLD (p<0.01). Significant visual field defects or endothelial cell losses were not detected at 3 and 6 months. Laboratory testing did not reveal any clinically significant deviations compared to baseline values. CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal therapy using bevacizumab over 6 months showed stabilization of visual acuity and choroidal neovascularization activity; the safety data were convincing.

Choroidal angiography with indocyanine green dye: absorption and fluorescence techniques.

The results of choroidal indocyanine green (I.C.G.) angiography by the absorption and fluorescence techniques are compared. Both techniques were done using the same apparatus, a modified fundus camera, an image intensifier coupled to a solid-state video camera and a U Matic video recorder. Both were performed with the same dye dilution in the same patients, at a 24-hour interval. The light source was the unmodified 50 Watt halogen light bulb of the fundus camera. The angiograms obtained by the absorption and the fluorescence techniques refer to the same chorioretinal area and the same angiographic phase. Comparison of all the angiograms shows that I.C.G. fluorescence angiography provides a better resolution of choroidal vascular details than the absorption technique.

Vascular factors in the pathogenesis of uraemic bleeding.

To determine the possible role of vascular factors in the bleeding tendency of uraemic patients, three major factors of the haemostatic system normally present in vascular tissues were studied. Factor VIII-related protein (F VIII) was detected on the vascular intima of 13 patients and 10 normal subjects. Comparable values of plasminogen activator (PA) were found in tissue slices from 7 patients and 7 controls. In contrast, prostacyclin like (PGI2) activity, measured as platelet aggregation inhibitory potency, was significantly higher in specimens from 15 patients with either acute or chronic uraemia than in 10 controls. The latter abnormality, leading to impaired platelet-vessel wall interaction, might contribute to the disturbed haemostasis of uraemic patients.