TREATMENT OF EXUDATIVE AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION WITH RANIBIZUMAB COMBINED WITH KETOROLAC EYEDROPS OR PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether ketorolac eyedrops plus intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) or verteporfin photodynamic therapy plus IVR provides additional benefit over IVR monotherapy for treatment of choroidal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, pilot study in 75 patients with naive choroidal neovascularization. Patients were randomized 1:1:1 into 3 groups: ranibizumab monotherapy (RM), ranibizumab plus ketorolac, or ranibizumab plus loading-phase reduced-fluence verteporfin photodynamic therapy (RV) groups. RESULTS: At 12 months, all groups showed significant improvement in both best-corrected visual acuity and central retinal thickness. The mean best-corrected visual acuity change from baseline to 12 months was -0.14 ± 0.52 logMAR (20/73 ± 20/29), -0.25 ± 0.60 logMAR (20/46 ± 20/27), and -0.10 ± 0.30 (20/97 ± 20/40) logMAR in RM, ranibizumab plus ketorolac, and RV groups, respectively. The mean central retinal thickness change from baseline to 12 months was -125 ± 15 μm, -141 ± 21 μm, and -130 ± 15 μm in RM, ranibizumab plus ketorolac, and RV groups, respectively. Both ranibizumab plus ketorolac and RV groups required fewer IVR treatments than RM. CONCLUSION: Compared with RM and ranibizumab plus verteporfin photodynamic therapy, the combination of 0.45% ketorolac eyedrops 3 times a day and ranibizumab in patients with choroidal neovascularization provided superior best-corrected visual acuity and central retinal thickness outcomes. Both combination regimens required fewer IVR injections than RM during the 12-month follow-up period.