A study recently done out of the Mayo Clinic, looked into the risk of strokes due to anti-VEGF therapy for AMD. The study has found that there is no association between the two, and the use of anti-VEGF therapy is still the best option for patients with AMD.
Dr. Carl Regillo added his own comment on the study:
“The use of anti-VEGF agents injected into the eye for common retinal problems like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy carried with it the theoretical risk of increasing the incidence of stroke and heart attacks. With this cohort study out of the Mayo clinic, retina specialists administering these drugs and their patients can now be reassured that there is no significant increased cardiovascular or cerebrovascular risk with the treatment. The likely explanation for the lack of any association between the drugs administered directly into the eye and these side effects is that the dose of the medicines used with each eye injection is very small and the rest of the body is not exposed to significant amounts of the drug.”
