Abstract
BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of various anti-vascular endothelial growth factors in treating patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in Bangladesh lacks comprehensive information. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the efficacy of brolucizumab and ranibizumab and assessed the incidence of drug-related adverse events in nAMD and DME patients of Bangladesh. METHODS: In this retrospective case series, 20 patients who had received either intravitreal brolucizumab (n = 10) or ranibizumab (n = 10) were included. Demographic and clinical characteristics, data on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements, including macular volume (MV) and central subfield retinal thickness (CSRT), were recorded for each patient at baseline and follow-up visits. In addition, brolucizumab was compared with ranibizumab in terms of above mentioned parameters. RESULTS: Both brolucizumab and ranibizumab induced changes in patient parameters, including BCVA, OCT measurements, and MV, relative to baseline values. At the 12-week follow-up, neither drug demonstrated statistically significant superiority over the other (P > 0.05 in all cases). However, over the course of treatment, the mean BCVA showed a significant improvement following the initiation of brolucizumab therapy (P = 0.042). In terms of OCT findings, the mean CSRT significantly decreased from 508.5 ± 101.1 µm at baseline to 241 ± 40.4 µm at week 12, while the mean MV was significantly reduced from 10.3 ± 1.0 mm(3) to 8.2 ± 1.6 mm(3) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Intravitreal brolucizumab appeared to be an effective option for patients with nAMD and DME.