Cooperation of German ophthalmologists in routine care of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration: results of the non-interventional BRIDGE study.

PURPOSE: In the non-interventional ophthalmological study 'BRIDGE' the routine care of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with ranibizumab was observed in Germany. A patient regularly sees the general ophthalmologist (GO) for monitoring and, if needed, the injecting ophthalmologist (IO) for intravitreal injections (IVI). Thus, patients are routinely treated by two ophthalmologists in parallel and patient care depends on their collaboration. This cooperation was evaluated based on network questionnaires. METHODS: 'BRIDGE' was a multicenter, national, open-label, prospective, observational study, conducted between July 2010 and December 2012. The network questionnaire for GOs consisted of 51 questions, while the similar questionnaire for IOs consisted of 43 questions, addressing the type and details of the individual collaboration. The statistical analysis was purely descriptive. RESULTS: The network questionnaire for GOs was completed by 152 GOs, regularly cooperating with 2.5 ± 1.1 IOs, while the questionnaire for IOs was completed by 43 IOs, regularly cooperating with 23.2 ± 23.6 GOs. Generally, both GOs and IOs stated that they regularly exchange information regarding the patients' situation. Diagnostic standards were only established for 15 % of the GOs' collaborations and for 35 % of the IOs' collaborations. After initial treatment, both GOs and IOs agreed on the medical significance of regular monitoring visits performed by the GOs. Agreements on re-treatment criteria were only established in the case of 16 % of the GOs and 28 % of the IOs. Overall, both GOs and IOs were satisfied with the current situation, with regard to the medical treatment situation for patients and to the cooperation within the networks. CONCLUSIONS: The network questionnaires revealed well-established cooperation between IOs and GOs in Germany with an accepted division of responsibilities for the routine care of patients with nAMD. However, the cooperation between two ophthalmologists treating one patient harbors risks. Agreements on diagnostic and re-treatment criteria would help to improve network performance and outcomes.

An epidemiological study of neovascular age-related macular degeneration in Germany.

OBJECTIVE: Neovascular or wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of blindness in industrialized countries; however, there is a lack of recent epidemiological data from Germany. The aim of this study was to collect epidemiological data from patients in Germany with suspected neovascular AMD and evaluate the diagnostic procedures performed and treatments used at clinics. METHODS: This was a Germany-based, multicentre, retrospective review of data from patients with suspected neovascular AMD visiting ophthalmology clinics over an 18 month period in 2008-10. Clinical characteristics, functional symptoms and examination results were recorded. In addition, ophthalmologists completed a questionnaire on neovascular AMD diagnosis and treatment. RESULTS: Ten sites collected data from 2498 patients (64.0% female) with a mean decimal visual acuity of 0.4 ± 0.3 at the time of diagnosis of neovascular AMD. The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 76.9 ± 8.9 years for patients with the right eye affected and 77.0 ± 8.3 years for patients with the left eye affected. The most frequent pathological findings detected by routine ophthalmic examination were old lesions (31.2%), intra/subretinal fluid (18.1%), new lesions (13.0%), and intra/subretinal haemorrhage (11.4%). A confirmed diagnosis of neovascular AMD was most frequently based on fundoscopy (67.3%), fluorescein angiography (39.6%), and biomicroscopy (35.7%) tests but rarely on optical coherence tomography (8.9%). The most frequently documented comorbidity with neovascular AMD was hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases (57.5%). Seven ophthalmologists completed the questionnaire with the majority of ophthalmologists agreeing that regular ophthalmic examination can prevent the development of late-stage neovascular AMD. CONCLUSION: Neovascular AMD is a frequent diagnosis in German ophthalmology clinics. As visual acuity is already poor in most patients with suspected neovascular AMD, regular preventive ophthalmologic examinations should be considered in high risk patients. STUDY LIMITATIONS: Limitations of the study include the lack of a comparator cohort, which limited the amount of analyses that could be performed. Additionally, a study eye was not defined and information was collected separately for each affected eye and therefore analysed separately. Furthermore, a small number of ophthalmologists completed the questionnaire, limiting the objectivity.

Treatment patterns, visual acuity and quality-of-life outcomes of the WAVE study - a noninterventional study of ranibizumab treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in Germany.

PURPOSE: To evaluate effectiveness, tolerability and safety of repeated intravitreal injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration in routine medical practice in Germany. METHODS: A noninterventional study with 3470 patients treated in 274 medical centres according to German guidelines, with monthly intravitreal injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab during upload (3 months) followed by a maintenance phase (9 months) with reinjections if medically indicated. RESULTS: Mean injection rate was 4.34 (SE = 0.05; median = 3.0). Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) remained stable (mean change 0.02 LogMAR, SE = 0.01, p = 0.0169) and central retinal thickness (CRT) decreased (by -78.9 µm, SE = 2.95 µm, p < 0.0001). The NEI-VFQ 25 summary score showed a positive stabilization with a mean change of 0.73 (SE = 0.37, p = 0.0501) compared with baseline. Adverse events were documented for 6.5% of the patients with 3.9% of these events being classified as serious. CONCLUSIONS: The number of administered intravitreal injections of ranibizumab over the first year of treatment was very low but still achieved a stabilization of BCVA, a reduction in CRT and maintained vision-related quality of life. The management of patients with neovascular AMD in Germany needs to be improved to achieve better treatment results.

Rifampin followed by ceftriaxone for experimental meningitis decreases lipoteichoic acid concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid and reduces neuronal damage in comparison to ceftriaxone alone.

Rifampin (RIF) releases smaller quantities of lipoteichoic acids (LTAs) from Streptococcus pneumoniae than ceftriaxone (CRO). Due to the rapid development of resistance, RIF cannot be used as a single agent for therapy of bacterial meningitis. For this reason, we compared the effect of treatment with RIF followed by treatment with CRO (RIF-CRO) or the effect of treatment with clindamycin (CLI) followed by treatment with CRO (CLI-CRO) to that of CRO alone on the concentrations of LTAs and teichoic acids in vitro. The effects of RIF-CRO on LTA concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and on neuronal injury were investigated in a rabbit model of S. pneumoniae meningitis. In vitro, bacterial titers were effectively reduced by CRO, RIF-CRO, and CLI-CRO when each drug was used at 10 micro g/ml. The levels of release of LTAs after the initiation of therapy were lower in RIF-CRO- and CLI-CRO-treated cultures than in cultures treated with CRO alone (P < 0.05 from 3 to 12 h after initiation of treatment). Similarly, in rabbits, the increase in the amount of LTAs in CSF was lower in RIF-CRO-treated animals than in CRO-treated animals (P = 0.02). The density of dentate apoptotic granular cells was lower after RIF-CRO therapy than after CRO therapy (medians, 58.4 and 145.6/mm(2), respectively; 25th quartiles, 36.3 and 81.7/mm(2), respectively; 75th quartiles, 100.7 and 152.3/mm(2), respectively; P = 0.03). Therefore, initiation of therapy with a protein synthesis-inhibiting antibacterial and continuation of therapy with a combination that includes a beta-lactam may be a strategy to decrease neuronal injury in bacterial meningitis.