Management of Patients With Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration Undergoing Cataract Surgery

To-date there have been only very few studies to examine the effect of cataract surgery to patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), especially in the era of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy. Furthermore the issue of optimum treatment regimen that should be used in the peroperative period has never been addressed. Since the human life expectancy gradually increases, the number of patients who are under anti-VEGF intravitreal injections for wet AMD will be increasing accordingly. Cataract surgery in such patients, despite guarded prognosis has been proved to improve their visual function and quality of life. On the other hand, it has been shown that cataract surgery induces anatomic changes based on optical coherence tomography analysis, suggesting a subclinical susceptibility to postoperative cystoid macular edema or exacerbation of choroidal neovascularization. Therefore it is highly important to identify the optimum treatment regime, pursuing the best anatomical and functional postoperative results.