How to treat wet macular degeneration anti-VEGF in the United States

  Wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) is the first blindness-causing eye disease in developed countries, and in China, the incidence of wAMD is increasing year by year with the advent of an aging society, bringing enormous pressure on society and families.  The cause of AMD is unknown, and there was no effective treatment in the last century. However, since 2006, it was first discovered by American doctors that anti-VEGF treatment has significant efficacy on wAMD, not only controlling the disease, but also significantly improving the patient’s vision, thus being named as one of the top ten medical discoveries in 2008. Although anti-VEGF therapy has been the preferred option for wAMD in Europe and the United States for 7,8 years, and there have been many successful experiences, anti-VEGF therapy was only introduced nationwide in our country in the last two years, so the awareness and use of this treatment is not sufficient. I visited Duke University Eye Center in the United States for 6 months in September 2014, which is ranked 6th in the nation and has a large impact in the United States especially in retinal diseases. I have a more in-depth understanding of anti-VEGF therapy wAMD in the United States during my study period, and I would like to share my experience with you.  Anti-VEGF therapy has become the first choice in the treatment of wAMD in the United States, and it has good effect on neovascular AMD (nvAMD), macular hemorrhage and edema of choroidal polypoid change (PCV), and anti-VEGF therapy is also preferred in many cases of retinopathy with macular edema, such as central retinal vein occlusion (RVO) with macular edema, diabetic retinopathy (DR) with macular edema, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in children with macular edema, etc., and the results are generally good.  2.Treatment plan of anti-VEGF treatment At present, anti-VEGF treatment in the United States generally uses the 3+PRN program, both intraocular injections once a month for 3 months after the first consultation, a total of 3 times, after which the decision to continue treatment and the frequency of intraocular injections is made according to the condition, mainly based on the OCT examination, usually anti-VEGF treatment is maintained for 3 years, with an average of 7-8 injections per year.  3, anti-VEGF treatment drug selection At Duke Eye Center, the current anti-VEGF treatment drug is still preferred Avastin (bevacizumab), which is currently approved for ophthalmic treatment in the United States (previously only allowed for the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors), and there are small packages of injections specifically for ophthalmology, which are more commonly used due to their relatively low price. The drug is not yet available in China as a small-package injection and is not approved for ophthalmic treatment, so it should be restricted. However, from foreign experience, the drug is not significantly different from Lusentis (ranibizumab) in terms of both efficacy and safety. At the Duke Eye Center, Lusentis is still the first choice of most physicians for some patients with better financial conditions, and its efficacy has been confirmed by multicenter large-scale clinical trials to control the disease and improve visual acuity, and it was the first anti-VEGF drug approved by the FDA for ophthalmic treatment. In addition, there is Eylea, which is an anti-VEGF treatment that has emerged in the last two years and is also used more in the United States, with no significant difference in effect from the first two.  Although anti-VEGF therapy has become the treatment of choice for wAMD, there are still some cases where anti-VEGF therapy is not effective. For these cases, the retinal specialists at Duke Eye Center usually use a 3-drug rotation, meaning that if 3 Avastin treatments are ineffective, 3 Lusentis treatments are used instead. Of course, some doctors choose to stick with the original drug, but try a one-time increase in dosage, and if that doesn’t work, they will also change the drug decisively. If all three anti-VEGF treatments are ineffective, the combination of anti-VEGF treatment with intraocular glucocorticoid injection will be effective in some cases. Of course, there are still a small number of cases that are still ineffective after the above treatments, and for these patients, the only option is to recommend that they abandon their treatment and move to community rehabilitation and social assistance.  At present, our treatment, while accepting the American model, is combined with some herbal treatments to stop bleeding and improve circulation for different patients. After nearly two years of application, we have achieved better results, not only controlling the recurrence of wAMD, but also reducing the number of anti-VEGF treatments, preserving or even improving the vision for some patients, and relieving the heavy economic pressure for patients.