Short-Term Changes in Choroidal Thickness After Aflibercept Therapy for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

PURPOSE: To investigate changes in choroidal thickness after aflibercept therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). DESIGN: Retrospective, consecutive, interventional case series. METHODS: This study included 102 eyes of 102 patients with treatment-naive neovascular AMD. All 102 eyes underwent 3 consecutive monthly 2.0 mg intravitreal aflibercept injections at baseline, 1 month, and 2 months. Choroidal thickness during 3 months were evaluated using either swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) or enhanced-depth imaging OCT. RESULTS: Of the 102 eyes, 46 eyes (45.1%) were diagnosed as typical neovascular AMD and 56 eyes (54.9%) as polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. After intravitreal aflibercept injections, the mean subfoveal choroidal thickness decreased from 252.0 +/- 99.7 mu m at baseline to 217.9 +/- 95.6 mu m at 3 months (P < .0001; percentage change from baseline, 86.5%). Mean choroidal thickness measured at 3 mm from the foveal center in the superior, inferior, temporal, and nasal directions also decreased significantly from 258.7 +/- 85.9 mu m to 236.4 +/- 84.6 mu m, 229.9 +/- 93.0 mu m to 208.6 +/- 86.5 mu m, 237.4 +/- 86.5 mu m to 214.6 +/- 79.5 mu m, and 183.7 +/- 97.0 mu m to 162.3 +/- 90.6 mu m, respectively (P < .0001 for all directions). Both subtypes of neovascular AMD demonstrated a similar trend toward decreasing choroidal thickness during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Choroidal thickness significantly decreased not only at the foveal center but also in the entire macula after 3 monthly intravitreal aflibercept injections for neovascular AMD. (C) 2015 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.