Treatment of extrafoveal lesions

Intravitreal Ranibizumab appears to be more effective than thermal laser photocoagulation in the treatment of extrafoveal classic choroidal neovascularisation secondary to agerelated macular degeneration, according to the results of a retrospective study. In a study involving 24 eyes with the extrafoveal neovascularisations, the mean best corrected visual acuity was significantly better in eyes receiving the anti-VEGF agent than in those undergoing the laser treatment (logMAR 0.16 vs 0.92, p = 0.02) at a mean follow-up of 26 weeks. Moreover, the recurrence rate in the laser group was 84.6 per cent, compared to only 18.2 per cent in the ranibizumab group (p < 0.001).

(Ladas et al, Ophthalmologica 2012; DOI: 10.1159/000337347.)