Photodynamic therapy in combination with ranibizumab versus ranibizumab monotherapy for wet age-related macular degeneration: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the prevailing causes of serious vision loss, mostly in people older than 55 years old in Western countries [1,2]. Characterized by choroidal neovascularization (CNV) [3], wet AMD covers about 20% of AMD patients, but it is responsible for almost 80%-90% severe vision loss [4 –8]. The intractability of wet AMD, however, lies in its relationships with age, metabolic changes in the retinal pigment epithelium, oxidative damage, especially light injury, inflammatory and immune disorders, genetic factors and so forth [4], confirming that AMD is an irreversible, chronic, deg enerative disease in ophthalmology.
Source: Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy - Category: Laser Surgery Authors: Source Type: research