Clinical Effect of Tongmai Fuming Decoction on Neovascular Ophthalmopathy

BACKGROUND: The incidence of neovascular eye disease is increasing year by year, seriously threatening human vision health and becoming an urgent public health problem. Tongmai fuming decoction as an experienced prescription can treat ischemic eye disease. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the therapeutic effect of Tongmai fuming decoction combined with anti-VEGF therapy on neovascular ophthalmopathy. METHODS: 52 patients (62 eyes) with neovascular ophthalmopathy who met the inclusion criteria from January 2018 to July 2020 were randomly divided into the control and observation groups. The control group was given an intravitreal injection of antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs once a day combined with on-demand treatment. The observation group was treated with traditional Chinese medicine Tongmai fuming decoction in addition to the treatment of anti-VEGF drugs. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was examined before and after treatment, and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was used to examine the mean retinal thickness and neovascularization in the macular area. Patients were followed for one year and the number of anti-VEGF injections was recorded. RESULTS: After treatment, the average thickness of BCVA and macular retina in the two groups significantly improved. The BCVA of the control group was 0.59 ± 0.39 3 months after treatment, and that of the experimental group was 0.42 ± 0.25 3 months after treatment. The average thickness of the macular retina in the control group was 304.8 ± 79.7 3 months after treatment, and that in the experimental group was 267.7 ± 64.6 3 months after treatment; The average number of injections of anti-VEGF therapy in the control group was 2.32 ± 1.15 times, and that in the experimental group was 1.74 ± 0.76 times. There was a significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Tongmai fuming decoction and anti-VEGF therapy have a synergistic effect in the treatment of neovascular ophthalmopathy, which can reduce the treatment times of anti-VEGF drugs.