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Pegaptanib may offer alternative therapy for macular edema secondary to BRVO, according to new study

Tuesday, February 02 2010 | Comments

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What's This? Pegaptanib sodium appears to effectively treat macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO), new evidence suggests.

The prospective study included 20 patients aged 50 to 88 years from 3 retinal specialty practice settings who had macular edema secondary to BRVO for more than 1 month but fewer than 6 months. The patients were randomized to receive intravitreous pegaptanib 0.3 mg (n=15) or pegaptanib 1 mg (n=5) at baseline, week 6, and week 12. The patients received subsequent injections every 6 weeks according to the investigator's discretion through 48 weeks; all subjects received the first 3 injections. Eighteen subjects completed the 54-week study with an average of 7.2 injections of pegaptanib.

The study's endpoints were the percentage of treated eyes showing a gain of at least 3 lines in best-corrected visual acuity and optical coherence tomography measurements of macular thickness (central point, central subfield, and macular volume) at 54 weeks.

Both groups experienced similar results. By 54 weeks, overall mean best-corrected visual acuity improved by 14 letters from baseline, retinal center point thickness decreased by 205 mcm, central subfield thickness decreased by 201 mcm, and macular volume decreased by 2.2 mm3.

The researchers noted that pegaptanib prompted a rapid response after the first injection and there was a mean best-corrected visual acuity improvement of 11 letters by the first week.

"[L]arger, more definitive, randomized clinical trials are warranted to determine the optimal treatment interval and duration," the researchers wrote. (Wroblewski J.J., et al. Am J Ophthalmol 2010;149:147-154.)

The study was funded by Pfizer and Eyetech.

This information concerns a use that has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

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