[Anti-VEGF therapy for age-related macular degeneration]. To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of aflibercept in treatment of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).


 The first group included 156 treatment-naive nAMD patients (156 eyes).  The second group consisted of 29 patients (38 eyes) with nAMD who had previously received at least 3 loading injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab but exhibited no morphological effect from the therapy.  All patients included in the study were treated with 2.0 mg aflibercept.  In the first group, the average number of injections was 5.1±0.39.  A change in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) after three loading injections was observed in all eyes of the group and amounted to 0.43±0.2.  The final visual acuity was 0.47±0.22.  After the first injection, central retinal thickness (CRT) in all patients of the group decreased to 346.14±54.53 μm; by the end of treatment it was 281.64±34 μm.  Dry macula was achieved in 109 patients (69.9%), which corresponded to the highest BCVA of 0.84±0.14.  In 26 patients (16.7%), subretinal fluid (SRF) remained and visual acuity was 0.57±0.22; 14 patients (9%) had pigment epithelium detachment (PED) and visual acuity of 0.63±0.08.  Presence of residual intraretinal fluid (IRF) in 7 patients (4.5%) reliably defined the lowest functional result of 0.1±0.22.  In the second group, 100% of patients after the first injection of aflibercept had decreased retinal thickness (by an average of 36.99 μm), while the increase in visual acuity was noted only after 3 injections in 67.5% of the eyes.  By the end of the follow-up, CRT was 231.44±18.4 μm, decreased on average by 83.65 μm, and the final BCVA was 0.31±0.19.  The number of injections was 5.7±1.7.


 CONCLUSION
 Aflibercept can be used as the first choice drug in the treatment of nAMD for it improves the anatomical parameters of the retina and the visual functions.
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