Vitreomacular adhesion or vitreomacular traction may affect antivascular endothelium growth factor treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to determine whether vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) or vitreomacular traction (VMT) has an influence on the outcomes of antivascular endothelium growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed in Pubmed.gov, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, SinoMed and ClinicalTrials.gov up to 30 June 2016 to identify eligible studies.

RESULTS: Nine studies and 2212 participants were finally identified. At month 6, the mean improvement in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and mean decline in central retinal thickness (CRT) of the VMA/VMT(+) group was less than that of the VMA/VMT(-) group (95% CI -3.05 to -0.96 letters, p=0.0002; 15.53 to 32.98 μm, p<0.00001; respectively); at month 12, there was a small or only marginally significant difference (-0.01 to 2.00 letters, p=0.05; 0.17 to 23.7 μm, p=0.05; respectively) between the groups. During the 12 months, however, the VMA/VMT(+) group required more injections ((0.25 to 0.95), p=0.0008).

CONCLUSIONS: In using anti-VEGF drugs to treat nAMD, clinicians should take into account the fact that concurrent VMA or VMT might antagonise the efficacy of anti-VEGF drugs during the early stage of treatment.