The Effect of a Single Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Therapy on Optic Nerve Head Perfusion

Sponsor
Medical University of Vienna
Study ID
NCT00709657
Status
Terminated

Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
50 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

Study Details

Age related macula degeneration is one of the most common sight threatening diseases of the elderly. The so called wet form of AMD is caused by choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) of pathological vessels, which lead to leakage, bleeding and macular edema. Several lines of evidence suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a key role in the induction CNV. Recent evidence indicates that overexpression of VEGF in the retinal pigment epithelium may lead to the development of CNV in experimental models, and intravitreal injection of a VEGF blocker prevents the development of experimental CNV. This hypothesis is also supported by the promising effects of anti-VEGF treatment in patients with choroidal neovascularisation. The substances currently in clinical use include ranibizumab (Lucentis®), bevacizumab (Avastin®) and pegaptanib (Macugen®). However, from a physiological point of view, VEGF also serves as a survival factor for existing vessels and for neuronal cells. Moreover, it has been reported that VEGF induces vasodilatation, most probably by an increased production of nitric oxide. Accordingly one may hypothesize that anti-VEGF treatment is associated with ocular vasoconstriction with unknown long term results. Thus, in the current study, the investigators set out to investigate whether the ocular perfusion is affected by a single intravitreal anti-VEGF.

Key Dates

First listed
Jul 3, 2008
Start date
Mar 31, 2008
Status verified
Nov 2014
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2010
Completion
Nov 30, 2011

Study Design

Enrollment
8 participants (actual)
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: 1
    patients with age-related macular degeneration, which are already scheduled for intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy in one eye are measured before and after treatment.

Primary Outcome Measure

Optic nerve head blood flow [ Time Frame: before, one week after and three weeks after intravitreal injection with an anti-VEGF drug ]

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