Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs for treatment of retinopathy of prematurity.

CONCLUSIONS: Implications for practice: Intravitreal bevacizumab/ranibizumab, when used as monotherapy, reduces the risk of refractive errors during childhood but does not reduce the risk of retinal detachment or recurrence of ROP in infants with type 1 ROP. While the intervention might reduce the risk of recurrence of ROP in infants with zone I ROP, it can potentially result in higher risk of recurrence requiring retreatment in those with zone II ROP. Intravitreal pegaptanib, when used in conjunction with laser therapy, reduces the risk of retinal detachment as well as the recurrence of ROP in infants with type 1 ROP. However, the quality of the evidence was very low to low for most outcomes due to risk of detection bias and other biases. The effects on other critical outcomes and, more importantly, the long-term systemic adverse effects of the drugs are not known. Insufficient data precludes strong conclusions favouring routine use of intravitreal anti-VEGF agents - either as monotherapy or in conjunction with laser therapy - in preterm infants with type 1 ROP. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Further studies are needed to evaluate the effect of anti-VEGF agents on structural and functional outcomes in childhood and delayed systemic effects including adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. PMID: 29308602 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Source Type: research