OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of faricimab compared with other anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents in treating neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) patients.
METHODS: A systematic review (SR) was conducted up to January 2023. Network meta-analyses (NMA) were performed, including sensitivity and subgroup analyses for naïve population. Outcomes included changes in visual acuity (Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study [ETDRS] letters), anatomical changes, frequency of injections and adverse events. The Cochrane Collaboration guidelines and the Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis framework were used for the SR and the certainty of evidence, respectively.
RESULTS: From 4128 identified records through electronic databases and complementary searches, 63 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) met the eligibility criteria, with 42 included in the NMA. Faricimab showed a significant reduction in the number of annual injections compared with most fixed and flexible anti-VEGF treatment regimens, while showing no statistically significant differences in visual acuity through ETDRS letter gain, demonstrating a comparable efficacy. Retinal thickness results showed comparable efficacy to other anti-VEGF agents, and inferior only to brolucizumab. Results also showed that more patients treated with faricimab were free from post-treatment retinal fluid compared with aflibercept every 8 weeks, and both ranibizumab and bevacizumab, in the fixed and pro re nata (PRN) assessed schedules. Faricimab showed a comparable safety profile regarding the risk of ocular adverse events and serious ocular adverse events (SOAE), except for the comparison with brolucizumab quarterly, in which faricimab showed a significant reduction for SOAE risk.
CONCLUSIONS: Faricimab showed a comparable clinical benefit in efficacy and safety outcomes, with a reduction in annual injections compared with fixed and flexible anti-VEGF drug regimens, representing a valuable treatment option for nAMD patients.
UNASSIGNED: CRD42023394226.

A scoping review of 45 peer-reviewed manuscripts involving intraocular pressure (IOP) change and concurrent optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) assessments was performed to aggregate knowledge, summarize major findings, and identify gaps in literature and methodology relating to the effect of IOP change on OCTA. Articles were identified through PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar, Cochrane, Web of Science, and article reference lists. A total of 838 results were identified, and 45 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria for detailed analysis. OCTA metrics including vessel density (VD), perfusion density, and flow density of the superficial capillary plexus and the radial peripapillary capillaries were analyzed in relation to relative temporal IOP changes. Overall, IOP changes were found to affect superficial vascular plexus (VD) measurements on OCTA, especially when IOP elevated above the physiologic normal range (10-21 mmHg). No significant association was found between diurnal IOP variation and OCTA metrics. Cataract surgery improved the whole-image signal strength and VD regardless of changes in IOP. Beta-blockers were associated with paradoxically reduced vessel density in normal tension glaucoma patients in two studies. Although glaucoma surgical intervention studies were inconsistent and limited by scan quality and low sample sizes, patients requiring glaucoma surgery exhibited attenuated postoperative superficial VD recovery despite significant IOP reductions with surgical intervention. In addition to ensuring near-perfect signal strength with minimal media opacities and controlling for high myopia, central corneal thickness, and the presence of retinopathy, clinicians should consider the statistically significant impact of IOP on OCTA metrics when interpreting results.

Age-related macular degeneration is a major cause of blindness, and the development of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) intravitreal treatments has revolutionised the management of the disease. At the same time, new challenges and unmet needs arose due to the limitations of the current therapeutic options. Neovascularisation development during the course of the disease has a complex pathogenetic mechanism, and several biomarkers and their association with treatment outcomes have been investigated. We reviewed the relevant literature about neovascularisation development and biomarkers related to response to treatment. Improving our knowledge on the field can improve patient outcomes and offer personalised care.

Idiopathic macular telangiectasia refers to a disease entity characterized by telangiectasia and alteration of the juxtafoveal capillary network. It can present uniocularly or binocularly and is subdivided into three groups which have varied appearances. Group I occurs in males which is easily identifiable and has macular edema. Group II has no sex predilection and difficult to distinguish by clinical examination and often requires the need of optical coherence tomography and angiographic modalities. Group III is not so common with its progressive nature and associated with neurological diseases. This article is aimed to provide complete details about idiopathic macular telangiectasia/idiopathic juxtafoveal telangiectasia/parafoveal telangiectasia including various groups, pathology, presentation, and management.

Many inherited retinal diseases (IRD) can be associated with, or be secondarily complicated by, macular neovascularisation (MNV), which has been variably treated with intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor, steroids, laser and surgery. In this article, we aim to present a consolidated literature review of management of IRD-related MNV.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review and meta-analysis provides a summary of the efficacy and safety of ranibizumab biosimilars relative to reference ranibizumab anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).
METHODS: We conducted systematic searches from January 2003 to August 2022 on Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials. We included studies reporting changes in early treatment diabetic retinopathy study-measured best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), number of patients who lost or gained more than 15 letters in BCVA from baseline, changes in retinal thickness and adverse events between treatment arms. The following studies were excluded: studies that did not report visual outcomes following biosimilar and reference ranibizumab intravitreal injections, study arms combining anti-VEGF agents with laser or steroid injections, sham injections as a control comparator, studies without English full texts and non-comparative, observational study design.
RESULTS: Five studies reported on four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 1544 eyes at baseline were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The studies in our systematic review found no significant differences between reference ranibizumab and ranibizumab biosimilar medications (FYB201, SB11, RanizuRel and Lupin\'s ranibizumab) for visual and anatomical outcomes. No significant differences were detected between biosimilar and reference ranibizumab for treatment emergent adverse events (risk ratio, RR 1.06, 95% CI (0.91 to 1.23), p=0.45, I2=52%) or IOP-related adverse events with significant heterogeneity (RR 2.59, 95% CI (0.11 to 62.25), p=0.56, I2=76%).
CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review of four RCTs demonstrated no significant difference in visual outcomes, retinal thickness outcomes, as well as meta-analysis of adverse events between biosimilar and reference ranibizumab therapies for nAMD treatment.

There is accumulating evidence of the associations between age-related eye diseases (AREDs) and smoking or dietary factors. We aimed to provide an umbrella review of the published literature pertaining to smoking or dietary intake as risk factors for major AREDs including cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy.
We searched for pertinent systematic reviews or meta-analyses in PubMed and Web of Science until 16 April 2022. We reperformed the meta-analysis of each association using random effects models. The heterogeneity and 95% prediction interval were calculated. The presence of small-study effect or excess significance bias was also assessed.
In total, 64 associations from 25 meta-analyses and 41 associations from 10 qualitative systematic reviews were evaluated. There was convincing (class I) evidence for only one association, namely current smoking and cataract. Two factors had highly suggestive (class II) evidence, namely ever smoking associated with cataract and fish consumption associated with AMD. We also found suggestive (class III) evidence for associations between the dietary intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin C and the risk of cataract.
Smoking as a risk factor for cataract was the most robust association we identified. We also identified several dietary elements associated with AREDs. Large prospective studies are warranted to further examine the associations discussed in this review.
CRD42022339082.

Blindness is defined as presenting visual acuity worse than 3/60 in the better eye. Its highest proportion has been conforming to the developing countries such as Ethiopia. So, timely information is crucial to design strategies. However, the study on the magnitude of blindness in Ethiopia was outdated which means it was conducted in 2005-2006. Therefore, this study was proposed to estimate the pooled prevalence of blindness in Ethiopia.Databases like PubMed, Cochrane library, Google Scholar and references of retrieved articles were used to search for articles. A standard data extraction approach was employed and presented using Preferred Reporting of Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale quality assessment tool was used to evaluate the quality of studies. Analysis held using STATA V.11. The funnel plot and Egger\'s regression test were applied to check for the potential sources of bias. Heterogeneity among the studies was tested using I² statistics that have been calculated and compared with the standard. Meta-regression and subgroup analysis were done to identify the potential sources of heterogeneity. Estimation of blindness was carried out using Duval and Twee die\'s trim and fill analysis. The pooled prevalence of blindness in Ethiopia is found to be 1.18% (95% CI 0.650% to 1.706%). Blindness is among the main public health difficulties in Ethiopia. So, it demands up-to-date strategies and its implementation, preventive and curative eye care service with affordable and accessible interventions, and evidence-based advocacy. The trial Registration Number is CRD42021268448.

This systematic review assessed the long-term outcomes for patients treated with intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor or dexamethasone for macular oedema (MO) secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Studies investigating patients of all ages with MO due to RVO only were included. The review was deliberately broad in scope, including comparative and non-comparative studies to ensure inclusion of real-world type evidence. Risk of bias was assessed. In total, 76 data sets were included (10 775 participants). Overall, mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved from baseline to 5 years by 16.1 letters (p<0.01). BCVA improved from baseline in both central RVO (CRVO) and branch RVO (BRVOs) at 2 years, by 9.1 (p<0.01) (difference from baseline in CRVOs) and 9.1 (p<0.01) letters, respectively. At 5 years, BCVA improved from baseline in CRVOs by 15.6 letters and in BRVOs by 16.2; the difference between RVO types was not significant (p=0.18). Two studies had 5-year data for ranibizumab, and improvement was evident. There was no significant difference between outcomes in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) compared with non RCTs. These results suggest a benefit to receiving long-term intravitreal treatments for MO due to RVO.

UNASSIGNED: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the microvascular alterations in non-ocular Behcet\'s disease (BD) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
UNASSIGNED: A comprehensive search was performed in Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane databases for eligible studies from inception to February 2022. Detailed clinical demographics were extracted from each study by two independent reviewers. The weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to compare the OCTA parameters between non-ocular BD and healthy controls. Stata 12.0 was adopted to conduct statistical analyses.
UNASSIGNED: Ten cross-sectional studies involving 386 eyes in non-ocular BD and 418 eyes in healthy volunteers were ultimately included in the present analysis. When considering superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP), no significant differences of vessel densities in the whole enface image, fovea and perifovea were evaluated between two groups. Significantly reduced parafoveal vessel density of SCP was observed in non-ocular BD in comparison with healthy group (WMD = -1.33, 95%CI: -1.78, -0.89; I 2 = 0.6%), while slightly decreased parafoveal vessel density was assessed in DCP (WMD = -1.47, 95%CI: -3.30, 0.35; I 2 = 89.3%). Significantly increasing foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area was observed in non-ocular BD when compared to healthy controls (WMD = 0.11, 95%CI: 0.03, 0.19; I 2 = 95.3%). There was no significant difference in flow area of choriocapillaris between non-ocular BD and control group (WMD = 0.06, 95%CI: -0.19, 0.32; I 2 = 0%).
UNASSIGNED: Based on current analysis, our results demonstrated significantly lower parafoveal vessel density of SCP and lager FAZ area in full vasculature in non-ocular BD. The retinal microvascular alterations appear before the emergence of ocular manifestations.
UNASSIGNED: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/], identifier [CRD42021244856].