Epimacular Brachytherapy Not Beneficial in Treating Wet Macular Degeneration

Wet macular-degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in Europe and North America and anti-VEGF injections are the main therapies used to treat the disease. Epimacular Brachytherpay (EMB) was developed as a possible alternative treatment for wet macular degeneration. EMB is a form of radiotherapy that delivers radiation to lesions via an endoscopic probe.

Study results published in JAMA Ophthalmology revealed that EMB does not reduce the number of ranibizumab injections needed by wet macular degeneration patients. In addition, the addition of the EMB therapy resulted in worse visual acuity when compared to patients receiving only anti-VEGF injections.

Researchers conducted a 24-month ramdomized clinical trial to test efficacy and safety of EMB. The study included 363 patients with active wet macular degeneration. 244 participants received the combination of EMB with the anti-VEGF injections while the remaining received only the injections.

The clinical trial found that while the EMB was safe, it did not reduce the number of anti-VEGF injections and also resulted in worse visual acuity than the anti-VEGF injections alone. Researchers determined that EMB should not be used as an additional therapy for wet macular degeneration.