© 2014 Wichtig Publishing - ISSN 1120-6721 Eur J Ophthalmol ( 2014; : 6) 904-910 24 904 Retinal and choroidal thickness changes after single anti-VEGF injection in neovascular age-related macular degeneration: ranibizumab vs bevacizumab Selcuk Sizmaz 1 *, Cem Kucukerdonmez 2 *, Ali Kal 3 , Eylem Yaman Pinarci 3 , Handan Canan 3 , Gürsel Yilmaz 3 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Cukurova University School of Medicine, Adana - Turkey 2 Department of Ophthalmology, Izmir University School of Medicine, Izmir - Turkey 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Baskent University School of Medicine, Ankara - Turkey *These authors contributed equally to this work ORIGINAL ARTICLE DOI: 10.5301/ejo.5000478 INTRODUCTION Intravitreal injection of vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (anti-VEGFs) is the most potent option for treat- ment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Currently, bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech, South San Francisco, California, USA) and ranibizumab (Lucentis; Genentech) are being used worldwide. Both agents are humanized monoclonal antibodies that can bind to all iso- forms of VEGF. The difference is that ranibizumab is an antibody fragment, while bevacizumab is a full-length anti- body. Bevacizumab is produced to be used intravenously Purpose: To evaluate and compare the effects of single intravitreal injection of ranibizumab and beva- cizumab on central retinal and choroidal thickness in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Forty eyes of 40 patients with neovascular AMD that underwent intravitreal injection of vas- cular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (anti-VEGFs) were included. Patients were randomized into 2 groups: 20 eyes received ranibizumab and 20 eyes received bevacizumab injection. Central retinal and choroidal thicknesses of all eyes at baseline and 1 month postinjection scans were measured with Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). Student t test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare the data. Results: The mean central retinal thickness (CRT) showed significant decrease after single injection of ranibizumab (from 345.0 µm to 253.5 µm, p<0.01) and bevacizumab (from 329.5 µm to 251.0 µm, p<0.01) at the first month, respectively. There was no significant difference regarding the CRT change between groups (p = 0.39). The mean choroidal thickness decreased from 158.6 µm (115-317) to 155.5 µm (111-322) in the ranibizumab group and from 211.5 µm (143-284) to 201.5 µm (93-338) in bevacizumab group. The decrease was not significant between groups (p = 0.35). Conclusions: Intravitreal injection of both ranibizumab and bevacizumab provided a significant de- crease in CRT; however, the agents caused no significant change in choroidal thickness. Additionally, no difference between ranibizumab versus bevacizumab was observed related to macular edema inhibition. Keywords: Bevacizumab, Choroidal thickness, Optical coherence tomography, Ranibizumab Accepted: April 3, 2014