Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of repeated intravitreal bevacizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization.
Methods: We performed a prospective, nonrandomized, interventional case series study. Sixteen eyes from 16 patients with myopic choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia had a monthly injection of intravitreal bevacizumab 1.25 mg for 3 consecutive months. Best-corrected visual acuity assessment, optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography and multifocal electroretinogram were performed before treatment and at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months.
Results: The mean logarithm of minimum angle of resolution best-corrected visual acuity was 1.43 before treatment. At 6 months after treatment, the mean best-corrected visual acuity improved significantly (P = 0.02) to 0.7. Fluorescein angiography demonstrated absence of leakage in 14 eyes (87.5%) and persistent but decreased leakage in the remaining 2 eyes (12.5%). Optical coherence tomography showed a highly significant reduction in the foveal central thickness (P < 0.001) at all follow-up visits. The foveal and parafoveal rings showed a significant improvement in the multifocal electroretinogram responses. At the sixth month follow-up, the P1 amplitudes and implicit time P values in the foveal and parafoveal rings were <0.01 and <0.001, respectively. None of the remaining three rings showed any significant change throughout the study period.
Conclusion: In 6-month follow-up, repeated injections of intravitreal bevacizumab were effective in treating myopic choroidal neovascularization. No adverse effect was detected on retinal function evaluated by multifocal electroretinogram.