Intravitreal bevacizumab therapy for idiopathic macular telangiectasia

Abstract

Type 2 IMT improved anatomically with bevacizumab treatment despite a lack of improvement in vision. Bevacizumab effectively decreases vascular permeability and retinal edema in the short term.

Intravitreal Bevacizumab for Type 2 Idiopathic Macular Telangiectasia

“…Even though some authors have shown a significant visual effect [3,4,5,9,10], others have reported no significant functional improvement after intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment despite apparent anatomical changes in the decreased late-phase FA leakage and decreased CRT on OCT [6,7]. Some authors also found that intravitreal anti-VEGF agents did not reduce CMT or improve BCVA [2,8,11,12], with results similar to ours. For foveal detachment secondary to type 2 IMT, a significant improvement in BCVA has been reported with only 1 intravitreal anti-VEGF injection until 6 months after treatment [14].…”

“…Both a staining effect and minimal leakage have been considered as possible explanations [3,4,13]. Recently, it has been hypothesized that VEGF may play an essential role in IMT, which has stimulated the use of bevacizumab or ranibizumab for the treatment of this condition (table 2) [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. Even though some authors have shown a significant visual effect [3,4,5,9,10], others have reported no significant functional improvement after intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment despite apparent anatomical changes in the decreased late-phase FA leakage and decreased CRT on OCT [6,7].…”

“…Recently, type 2 IMT has been treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents with different results [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. The purpose of this study is to describe a case series of patients treated with intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) for type 2 IMT.…”

Intravitreal Bevacizumab for Treatment of Proliferative and Nonproliferative Type 2 Idiopathic Macular Telangiectasia

“…[10][11][12] Six reports have shown mixed results in 22 eyes using bevacizumab to treat nonproliferative MacTel Type 2. [13][14][15][16][17]19 Transient decreases in macular edema or leakage on fluorescein angiography were seen in some reports, with variable and inconsistent effects on visual acuity. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Left untreated, the neovascularization in the proliferative form of MacTel Type 2 causes fibrosis in the macula with vision loss.…”

“…[13][14][15][16][17]19 Transient decreases in macular edema or leakage on fluorescein angiography were seen in some reports, with variable and inconsistent effects on visual acuity. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Left untreated, the neovascularization in the proliferative form of MacTel Type 2 causes fibrosis in the macula with vision loss. Surgery, transpupillary thermotherapy, intraocular steroids, and anecortave acetate have had limited success, while the best results have been achieved with verteporfin photodynamic therapy.…”