pISSN: 1011-8942 eISSN: 2092-9382 Korean J Ophthalmol 2011;25(3):161-165 DOI: 10.3341/kjo.2011.25.3.161 Original Article Multifocal Electroretinogram Findings after Intravitreal Bevacizumab Injection in Choroidal Neovascularization of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Joo Youn Park, Seung Hoon Kim, Tae Kwann Park, Young-Hoon Ohn Department of Ophthalmology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Bucheon, Korea Purpose: To evaluate the changes in multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) after intravitreal bevacizumab injection in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Twenty-one eyes with choroidal neovascularization secondary to AMD were studied before and after intravitreal bevacizumab injection for best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), OCT, and mfERG. Results: The BCVA improved, while central macular thickness and total macular volume in OCT decreased af- ter intravitreal bevacizumab injection (p = 0.03, 0.01, and 0.01, respectively). In mfERG, the amplitude of P1, and implicit time of P1 and N1 indicated a statistically significant improvement of retinal response after intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Conclusions: There is a potential role for mfERG in evaluating the effect on retinal function of intravitreal bev- acizumab injection. Key Words: Age-related macular degeneration, Bevacizumab, Choroidal neovascularization, Multifocal electroretinogram, Optical coherence tomography Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of legal blindness in people over the age of 65 years, and severe decreased visual acuity is believed to be due to choroidal neovascularization (CNV) [1,2]. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been im- plicated as a major stimulus for CNV in AMD, and in the breakdown of the blood retina barrier, with increased vascular permeability resulting in retinal edema [3,4]. As a consequence, VEGF inhibitors have been launched recently for the treat- ment of CNV in the clinical field [5-7]. Among them, bev- acizumab (Avastin®; Genentech, San Francisco, CA, USA), a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody to human VEGF, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer on February, 2004. Previous studies have revealed that intravitreal bev- acizumab injection improved vision, but these studies con- Received: July 12, 2010 Accepted: October 2, 2010 Corresponding Author: Young-Hoon Ohn, MD, PhD. Department of Ophthalmology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, #1174 Jung-dong, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon 420-767, Korea. Tel: 82-32-621-5053, Fax: 82-32-621-5018, E-mail: yhohn@schmc.ac.kr cluded from subjective changes of visual acuity and anatomi- cal changes after injection [8-11]. Recently, several studies have assessed the electrophysiological effect of intravitreal bevacizumab [12-14]. The aim of this study is to evaluate the electroretinographic changes of the macula in eyes with CNV due to AMD by means of multifocal electroretinography (mfERG), which reflects retinal function objectively [15], and optical coherence tomography (OCT), before and after intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Materials and Methods The present study was designed as a retrospective study of eyes with CNV secondary to AMD treated with intravitreal bevacizumab injection between March, 2008 and April, 2009. Medical records of patients who underwent intravitreal injections of bevacizumab for CNV due to AMD were reviewed. Patients who had ocular diseases such as high myopia or dif- fuse retinal degeneration that might influence the mfERG were excluded from the study. Each patient received three intravitreal injections of bev- acizumab (1.875 mg / 0.075 mL) at six week intervals (one at baseline, and then at six and 12 weeks later) under sterile ⓒ 2011 The Korean Ophthalmological Society This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses /by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 161