The Efficacy and Safety of Intravitreal Aflibercept 8 mg in Clinical Practice
<b>Purpose:</b> To characterize real-world use of intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg across 22 US retina practices. <b>Methods:</b> Retrospective review of patients who received at least 1 intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injection for treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, or diabetic retinopathy through April 1, 2024. Data from health records were collected retrospectively, including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), interval between treatments, and adverse events. <b>Results:</b> A total of 8323 eyes of 6271 patients received 20 385 intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injections. A total of 669 eyes (8.0%) were not previously treated. Among treatment-naive eyes, mean logMAR BCVA improved from 0.57 (Snellen equivalent ~20/80) at the time of the first intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injection, to 0.47 (Snellen equivalent ~20/60) (<i>P</i> < .001), 0.46 (Snellen equivalent ~20/60) (<i>P</i> < .001), and 0.48 (Snellen equivalent ~20/60) (<i>P</i> = .012) at the second, third, and fourth intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injections, respectively. Among previously treated eyes, mean logMAR BCVA improved from 0.46 (Snellen equivalent ~20/60) at the time of the first intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injection, to 0.42 (Snellen equivalent ~20/50) (<i>P</i> < .001), 0.43 (Snellen equivalent ~20/50) (<i>P</i> < .001), and 0.45 (Snellen equivalent ~20/60) (<i>P</i> = .70) at the second, third, and fourth intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injections, respectively. Treatment intervals to time of second, third, and fourth intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg injections increased compared to baseline intervals, by a mean of 2.2 days (<i>P</i> < .001), 2.5 days (<i>P</i> < .001), and 13.5 days (<i>P</i> < .001), respectively. Intraocular inflammation was observed in 11 eyes (1 in 1853 injections). Nine eyes (1 in 2265 injections) developed suspected endophthalmitis. <b>Conclusions:</b> In this real-world clinical setting, intravitreal aflibercept 8 mg treatment demonstrated improvements in BCVA outcomes, with increased intervals between injections. Rates of intraocular inflammation and endophthalmitis were low.
Authors
- Philip Storey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2137-7387)
- Edward H. Wood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8915-8346)
- Hana A. Mansour (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0634-3429)
- Allen C. Ho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3921-608X)
- Charles DeYoung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8412-2173)
- Jason Hsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2761-4219)
- Bita Momenaei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5435-7369)
- Charles C. Wykoff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7756-5091)
- Kevin P. Quinn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1853-6132)
- Eric W. Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8784-7524)
- Hasenin Al-khersan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6114-0996)
- Carl D. Regillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8260-9925)
- Mitchell S. Fineman
- Collin J. Richards
- Michael A. Klufas
- Brandon A. Bates (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8702-8043)
Institutions
- California Retina Consultants (US)
- Retina Consultants of Texas (US)
- Tennessee Retina (US)
- Texas Retina Associates (United States) (US)
- Wills Eye Hospital (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases
- Published
- 2025-10-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/24741264251383384
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Retinal Diseases and Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.71