One year results of anti-VEGF treatment in pigment epithelial detachment secondary to macular degeneration Resultados após um ano de tratamento anti-VEGF para o descolamento do epitélio pigmentado secundário à degeneração macular

INTRODUCTION Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a very common cause of vision loss especially in elderly patients living in developed countries. ARMD is caused by the accumulation of drusen in the macula, which is the most important part of the retina, and this process ends in serious irreversible visual impairment. Pigment epithelial detachment (PED) may be seen in all stages of ARMD and may lead to poor prognosis because of retina pigment epithelial (RPE) tears, submacular haemorrhage and, finally, disciform scars. ANCHOR and MARINA studies showed that the vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor (anti-VEGF), ranibizumab, was effective in the treatment of neovascular ARMD and repeated injections improved or preserved visual acuity (VA). However, these large studies did not provide specific information about ARMD patients with PED. In this study, we retrospectively examined the effect of anti-VEGF treatments in ARMD patients with vascularized PED.