Effect of Intravitreal Bevacizumab Injection on Corneal in vivo Biomechanics: A Pilot Study

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection on corneal biomechanical parameters as measured by the ocular response analyzer (ORA) and Corneal Visualization Scheimpflug Technology (CorVis). METHODS: In this prospective pilot study, ORA and CorVis parameters were recorded before and after a three-month course of IVB injection therapy in 16 patients in the injected and the contralateral non-injected control eyes. The changes in the recorded parameters in each group and the differences between the two groups were evaluated and compared. RESULTS: None of the changes in ORA parameters were statistically significant in the injected and non-injected groups before and three months after injection, except for corneal resistance factor (CRF) in injected eyes (paired t-test, P = 0.039). The differences in corneal hysteresis (CH) and CRF were not statistically significant between the two groups (P = 0.441 and 0.236, respectively), but significant differences were noted between corneal compensated IOP (IOPcc) and Goldmann-correlated IOP (IOPg) (P = 0.045 and 0.047, respectively). None of the changes in CorVis parameters were statistically significant in the groups before and at the end of study, except for the time of first corneal applanation (TAp1 ms) in the injected group (P = 0.040, paired t-test). Differences in TAp1, length of the second corneal applanation (LAp2 mm), velocity of the second corneal applanation (VAp2 m/s), intraocular pressure (IOP), and central corneal thickness (CCT) also showed borderline significance between the two groups. CONCLUSION: In this pilot study IVB injection could change CRF, IOPcc, IOPg, and TAP1 as measured by ORA and CorVis.