The reported rates of serious adverse events were low after anti-VEGF injections. There is no sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a difference in incidences between the anti-VEGFs.

In the light of this first reported case of a serious CMV infection following therapy with anti-TNF- alpha antibodies, CMV infection should be considered in symptomatic patients.

Refractive errors, in particular myopia, are common in IRD. The bipolar synapse and the inner and outer segments of the photoreceptor may serve as critical sites for myopia development.

ABSTRACT.Purpose: The HELIOS (Health Economics with Lucentis in Observational Settings) study was designed on request of the Dutch Health Authority for an observational study to assess the effectiveness and safety of ranibizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) in daily practice. Methods: The HELIOS study was a 2-year prospective, observational, openlabel, multicentre study involving 14 sites. Patients with wet AMD were enrolled and observed for a period of 24 months. The data were collected at baseline and at the visits closest around the time-points 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after inclusion. Results: Treatment with ranibizumab resulted in prevention of vision loss. The mean ETDRS score increased from 45.1 letters at baseline to 48.5 letters at 24 months. This was achieved with a mean of 7.8 injections over 24 months. Stabilization of visual acuity was also reflected by the scores on the quality of life EQ-5D questionnaire, which did not significantly change over the study period. The more subjective EQ-VAS questionnaire showed an overall improvement. The VFQ-25 questionnaire was also mostly stable over time. After 24 months, 32.2% of the patients gained ≥1 letter and 17.1% gained >15 letters. Patients completing the loading phase were better responders, as demonstrated by increased long-term visual acuity. In addition, ranibizumab was well tolerated and had a safety profile commonly seen in routine clinical practice. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that also in daily practice ranibizumab was effective in preventing vision loss over a period of 24 months. No new safety findings were identified.

BackgroundDescribing the natural course of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is essential in discussing prognosis and treatment options with patients and to support cost-effectiveness studies.MethodsFirst, we performed a literature search in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane. We included randomized clinical trials and prospective observational studies reporting visual acuity (VA) in non-treated patients, 24 studies in total. We integrated VA data using best fit on Lineweaver-Burke plots and modelled with non-linear regression using reciprocal terms. Second, we performed a quality-of-life (QoL) study in nAMD patients. We measured VA with Radner reading charts and QoL with the Health Utilities Index issue 3 (HUI-3) questionnaire in 184 participants. We studied the relation VA-QoL with linear regression. Third, with Monte Carlo simulation, we integrated the VA model from the literature review and the relation VA-QoL from the QoL study.ResultsVisual acuity was 0.4 and 0.07 after 5 years in the better-seeing, and worse-seeing eye, respectively. After 4.3 years, VA was <0.5 in the better-seeing eye; <0.3 after 7 years; 0.05 after 17 years. QoL score decreased from 0.6 to 0.45 after 10 years.ConclusionsThe natural course of nAMD in both eyes needs to be considered when informing patients. Visual acuity in the best eye decreases to below 0.5 in 4.3 years. This affects QoL significantly.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12886-017-0514-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.