Effects of intravitreal bevacizumab on inflammatory choroidal neovascular membrane

Abstract: Purpose. To test the efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab (IB) in the treatment of inflammatory choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Methods. A prospective interventional study on patients with subfoveal CNV secondary to posterior/diffuse uveitis treated with 1.5 mg/0.05 mL of IB. Eight eyes of 8 patients, with mean follow-up of 19.25 +/- 6 months, were included. The measurements adopted were 1) changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), 2) reduction in CNV size, and 3) changes in central foveolar thickness (CFT) measured by optical coherence tomography. Results. The mean number of intravitreal injections was 3.75 +/- 1.38. After IB treatment, the mean BCVA improved significantly, from 0.27 +/- 0.10 before treatment to 0.5 +/- 0.29 after treatment (p<0.05). The CFT also responded well to IB, with 402.75 +/- 114.11 mu m preoperatively, and after treatment 300.5 +/- 90.98 mu m (p< 0.01). Notably, all patients showed a reduction in the size of the CNV and BCVA remained stable or improved in 7 eyes (87.5%). No episode of active intraocular inflammation was observed and patients continued to receive their systemic steroid or immunosuppressive therapy. Conclusions. Intravitreal bevacizumab may be an additional strategy in inflammatory CNV of eyes with controlled uveitis