Predictive factors of age-related macular degeneration evolution in response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an acquired pathology of the retina that causes loss of central vision. There are specific therapeutic methods that are used at different stages of the pathology. Exudative form is treated with inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) used in different therapeutic schemes. This work will be focused more on the effect of bevacizumab. The effect of treatment is determined by different factors like age, gender, genetics, environment, and clinical factors. The complexity of the clinical factors is of particular interest because they can help us to predict the evolution of the pathology from the beginning of the treatment. The aim of this work is to study the predictors of AMD in order to understand the variability of response to anti-VEGF and to develop a mechanism for determining the patients who will not respond to anti-VEGF. This article comes with useful information about the effects of anti-VEGF in different clinical situations intending to bring a real benefit in the practical activity. In this review article were analyzed the scientific portals like PubMed and Google Scholar. Following the study of relevant sources it has been concluded that age, sex, genetics and clinical factors influence to direct the evolution of AMD under anti-VEGF treatment. The analysis of the factors involved in the variability of the pathological process response to anti-VEGF treatment allows the development of an algorithm for the stratification of patients with AMD.