Switching anti-VEGF agent for wet AMD: evaluation of impact on visual acuity, treatment frequency and retinal morphology in a real-world clinical setting

PURPOSE: The aim of the present cross-sectional real-world study is to evaluate the impact of switch of anti-VEGF agent from ranibizumab to aflibercept on visual acuity, treatment frequency and retinal morphology after 12 months in eyes with ongoing chronic treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared to eyes not subjected to switch of anti-VEGF agent. METHODS: Data was obtained retrospectively from the Swedish Macular Register, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and electronic patient charts. All eyes included were treated in the same clinical setting at the Department of Ophthalmology at the county hospital of Västmanland in Västerås, Sweden. RESULTS: In total, 282 and 359 eyes were included in the non-switch and switch cohorts, respectively. The cohorts were well balanced. Visual acuity remained stable during the observation period in both cohorts of eyes. The number of anti-VEGF treatments slowly declined over time in both cohorts of eyes and, consequently, the treatment intervals increased during the observation period. In eyes subjected to switch of anti-VEGF agent, planned treatment interval at 12 months was 7.6 (mean; SD 2.9) weeks compared to 6.8 (mean; SD 2.7) in the non-switch cohort (P = 0.001). OCT images demonstrated lower prevalence of intraretinal and subretinal fluid as well as pigment epithelial detachment at 12 months in eyes subjected to switch of anti-VEGF agent compared to non-switch eyes. CONCLUSION: Switch of anti-VEGF agent from ranibizumab to aflibercept did not affect visual function whereas improvement in retinal morphology was observed. These findings suggest a beneficial effect of switching from ranibizumab to aflibercept in eyes with ongoing chronic anti-VEGF treatment irrespective of previous response to ranibizumab. Longer follow-up is required to further evaluate the potential clinical significance of this finding. [Image: see text]