Given the aging population who will be affected by wet AMD and lack of effective GA treatment, it is crucial to assess the safety profile of repeated ranibizumab injections in AMD patients with GA, particularly the possible risk of GA development and enlargement. This potential adverse effect has significant implication in the discussions with patients regarding the risks and benefits of AMD treatment and injection frequency. While monthly injections provide slight improvement of visual acuity at 2 years (Martin et al., 2012), the risk of GA enlargement may offset this benefit in visual acuity. Previous studies assessed the association between intravitreal ranibizumab injections and de novo GA development in injection-naïve eyes (Martin et al, 2012, Querques et al., 2012., Grunwald et al., 2014), rather than GA enlargement in patients with preexisting GA. To the best of the investigators knowledge, there has been no prospective study assessing the association between intravitreal ranibizumab injections and rate of GA progression in patients with pre-existing GA. There is also no prospective study comparing the morphological features of GA between patients who are receiving intravitreal injections and those who are not, nor the concordance of GA enlargement rate between the 2 eyes among patients receiving and not receiving treatment.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
90
The medication Ranibizumab is routine standard of care for patients with wet AMD, and this is not an aspect of the study that is considered novel intervention
Toronto Western Hospital
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
RECRUITINGGeographic atrophy area progression
To assess the association between rate of geographic atrophy (GA) progression in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and repeated intravitreal ranibizumab injections
Time frame: Every 6 month for total of 2 years
Geographic atrophy morphological characteristics
To determine the difference of GA morphological characteristics between AMD patients receiving intravitreal injections and those who are not
Time frame: Every 6 month for total of 2 years
Concordance of GA enlargement rate between the two eyes
To determine the concordance of GA enlargement rate between the two eyes for patients with bilateral GA
Time frame: Every 6 month for total of 2 years
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