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The following is a summary of “Serial intravitreal injections in age-related macular degeneration patients from the dry eye disease perspective: a cross-sectional study,” published in the October 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Bilici et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the effects of serial intravitreal injections (IVI) on the ocular surface and meibomian glands in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).  

They assessed patients with unilateral nAMD, receiving anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections, with untreated fellow eyes serving as the control group. All participants adhered to a pre-IVI asepsis protocol using povidone-iodine (PI), Ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire scores, first and average non-invasive tear break-up time (fNITBUT and avgNITBUT), Schirmer-1 test results, corneal staining scores (according to the Oxford scale), and meibomian gland (MG) loss rates for the lower and upper eyelids were recorded after 4 weeks. 

The results showed 42 patients with nAMD with a mean age of 63.3 ± 19.4 years. The mean OSDI score was 20.3, and the median number of IVI was 9 (range 6–22). There were no substantial differences between treated and untreated fellow eyes for fNITBUT at 5.6 vs 4.5 (P = 0.872), avgNITBUT at 6.2 vs 7.2 (P = 0.968), Schirmer-1 test results at 7 vs 7 (P = 0.854), corneal staining scores at 0.3 vs 0.2 (P = 0.341), and MG loss rates for lower and upper eyelids at 29.3 vs 28.4 (P = 0.162) and 27.1 vs 26.9 (P = 0.476), respectively. A significant correlation was noted between age and lower and upper MG loss rates (r: 0.396, P = 0.042 and r: 0.365, P = 0.047).  

Investigators concluded that serial IVI of anti-VEGF agents with PI asepsis was well tolerated by patients with nAMD concerning ocular surface, MG loss, and dry eye disease (DED) measurements. 

Source: bmcophthalmol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12886-024-03727-9