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Is There Any Difference between Ranibizumab and Aflibercept Injections in Terms of Inflammation Measured with Anterior Chamber Flare Levels in Age-Related Macular Degeneration Patients: A Comparative Study

Purpose: To evaluate the inflammatory reaction to intravitreal aflibercept (IVA) or ranibizumab (IVR) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: A total of 60 eyes of 60 neovascular AMD patients and 30 eyes of 30 age-matched healthy people as a control group were included in this observational, prospective, comparative study. The AMD patients received 1:1 either IVA or IVR. Anterior chamber flare was measured with the Kowa FM-600 laser flare meter (Kowa Company, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) at days 0, 1, and 30. The mean flare value and standard deviation are expressed as photon counts per millisecond. Results: There were 51 (56.7%) men and 39 (43.3%) women, with a mean age of 72.7 ± 7.5 years. Mean aqueous flare values at baseline, day 1 and day 30 were 7.08 ± 2.44, 7.23 ± 2.56, and 6.99 ± 2.29, respectively, for the IVR group, 6.87 ± 3.18, 6.86 ± 3.19, and 6.53 ± 2.79, respectively, for the IVA group, and 6.4 ± 3.29, 6.41 ± 3.06, and 6.42 ± 3.05, respectively, for the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of baseline flare values for these three groups (p = 0.666). At the 1-day follow-up, a slight but not significant increase in flare was observed in the ranibizumab group. However, there was no significant change in aqueous flare values in either the ranibizumab- or the aflibercept-injected patients (p = 0.768 and p = 0.387, respectively) or between the groups (p = 0.635). No significant clinical inflammatory reactions were noted before or after intravitreal injections of either ranibizumab or aflibercept. Conclusion: No significant short-term intraocular inflammation was noted in the eyes receiving aflibercept or ranibizumab for the treatment of neovascular AMD. Although aflibercept has more immunogenic properties than ranibizumab, such as having an extra Fc portion and being a larger molecule, it is likely that its more potent anti-inflammatory effects prevent it from inducing inflammation.