BACKGROUND: We sought to observe the effectiveness of intravitreal injection of ranibizumab in treating neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) with serous pigment epithelial detachment (sPED).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective, noncomparative case series was performed. Twenty-3 eyes of 23 patients with sPED secondary to nAMD who had received intravitreal injections of ranibizumab were included in this study. All patients underwent best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), synchronous fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) examinations. All patients were treated with pro re nata intravitreal injections after 3 loading doses of ranibizumab and were followed up for 12 months. The differences in the BCVAs, maximum PED heights, PED volumes and CFTs of the affected eyes were compared between the baseline and last visit.

RESULTS: Twelve months after the first injection, improved visual acuity was observed in 16 of the 23 eyes. 4 eyes exhibited stable visual acuity, and 3 eyes exhibited impaired visual acuity. The mean post-injection logMAR BCVA was 0.58±0.05, which was much better than that at baseline (0.76±0.08; t=1.751, P=0.0869). The mean maximum PED height at baseline was 350.17±35.73μm and it was decreased to 238.87±36.87μm (t=2.192, P=0.0337) at the last visit. The mean PED volume after injection was 0.34±0.1 mm3, which was significantly decreased compared with that at baseline (0.81±0.21 mm3; t=2.021, P=0.0494).The mean CFT decreased, but this difference was not statistically significant (t=1.003, P=0.3211). None of the patients exhibited endophthalmitis, uveitis or RPE tears.

CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal injection of ranibizumab for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration with serous pigment epithelial detachment safely and effectively improved the patients’ visual acuities and decreased their PED heights volumes.

Keywords: Aged, 80 and over, Choroidal Neovascularization - drug therapy, Intravitreal Injections, Ranibizumab - therapeutic use, Retinal Detachment - pathology, Retinal Pigment Epithelium - pathology, Wet Macular Degeneration - pathology