The following is a summary of “Comparative efficacy of aflibercept and ranibizumab in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration with retinal pigment epithelial detachment: a systematic review and network meta-analysis,” published in the November 2023 issue of Ophthalmology by Sun et al.
Researchers performed a retrospective study to investigate the efficiency of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy in treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with retinal pigment epithelial detachment (PED).
They conducted a systematic review that identified studies comparing intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR), intravitreal aflibercept (IVA), and intravitreal conbercept (IVC) published before March 2022.
The results showed the meta-analysis of 1 randomized controlled trial and 6 observational studies (1,069 patients). The variation in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the IVA 2.0 mg group was superior to IVR 0.5 mg (average difference 0.07) and IVR 2.0 mg (average difference 0.10), and these differences were statistically significant. The change in the height of PED in the IVA 2.0 group was better than the IVR 0.5 group (average difference 45.30), and the difference was statistically significant. The proportion of patients without PED at the last visit in the IVA 2.0 group was superior to that in the IVR 2.0 group (HR 1.91), and the difference was statistically significant. However, compared to the IVR 0.5 group (HR 1.45), there was no significant difference, and IVA required fewer injections than IVR, with a mean difference of -1.58.
They concluded that IVA outperformed ranibizumab in treating nAMD with PED, showing improved visual acuity, reduced PED height, and fewer injections.
Source: bmcophthalmol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12886-023-03214-7
