ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Advances in diagnostic imaging and pharmacotherapy have dramatically altered our ability to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Clinical experience coupled with ongoing research has allowed our understanding of this process to evolve rapidly. Neovascular, or wet AMD, with development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) accounts for a signifi cant amount of vision loss, especially throughout the developed world. Prior to the advent of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, advanced AMD (including neovascular disease and geographic atrophy) accounted for the most common cause of blindness in people older than 50 years in the United States and many other developed nations (1-3). In the United States, the prevalence of vision loss from advanced AMD was estimated at 1.75 million in 2004, which was predicted to increase to 2.95 million by 2020 (4). More recent predictions suggest that the prevalence of legal blindness from neovascular AMD may be reduced by 70-74% with the advent of anti-VEGF therapy (5).
