Materials and Methods: A retrospective study. 74 eyes of 68 patients with exudative AMD who had initial VA of 1/10 or worse, and that were treated with intravitreal ranibizumab injections, were undertaken. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed in all patients, and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was evaluated by LogMAR and central macular thickness (CMT) was measured with spectral domain OCT. Treatment consisted of 3 loading doses of intravitreal ranibizumab every 4 weeks and was repeated when decrease in BCVA or increase in CMT was present.

Results: The mean age was 72.0±9.3 years (55-89) and the mean follow-up was 24.1±17.1 months (5-65). The mean logMAR BCVA before intravitreal ranibizumab injection was 1.3±0.4 logMAR, and at the final visit was 0.8±0.4 LogMAR (p<0.001). At the final examination (according to ETDRS), 12 eyes (16.3%) showed no change in BCVA, eight eyes (10.8%) had decrease at least one line in BCVA, and 54 eyes (72.9%) showed improvement at least one line compared to baseline. Mean baseline CMT was 577±185 μm (250-1110), and at the final visit was 343±138 μm (152-756), (p<0.001). Patients received a mean of 4.29 (range 3-9) ranibizumab injections.

Conclusion: Exudative age-related macular degeneration that had ≤1/10 initial VA with intravitreal ranibizumab injection demonstrated a significant improvement in functional and anatomic outcomes. Satisfying results were obtained with ranibizumab in patients with low initial visual acuity due to AMD. Keywords : AMD, low vision, ranibizumab