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DOI: 10.3310/hta16060Health Technology Assessment 2012; Vol. 16: No. 61Chapter 1IntroductionBackground and rationaleMacular degeneration (MD) is the commonest cause of visual impairment in the developedworld. 1,2 It mainly affects central vision, which underpins the ability to do tasks that requirefine detail to be resolved, <strong>for</strong> example reading, watching television and recognising faces.The commonest cause of MD is <strong>age</strong>ing, although there are many other less frequent causes.Age-<strong>related</strong> MD (AMD) causes visual loss principally through the development of newvessels, which <strong>for</strong>m in the choroid under the retina and leak fluid, bleed and eventually fibrose(choroidal <strong>neovascular</strong>isation, CNV). A less frequent site <strong>for</strong> the development of new vessels isin the retina itself, and this is termed retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP). The process of<strong>neovascular</strong>isation is often referred to as ‘wet’ or <strong>neovascular</strong> AMD (nAMD) to distinguish itfrom a less aggressive or ‘dry’ <strong>for</strong>m. CNV is identified and categorised using fundus fluoresceinangiography (FA) into ‘classic’ and ‘occult’ <strong>for</strong>ms based on patterns of fluorescence and locationunder the retina. RAP is identifiable using FA but more readily using indocyanine greenangiography. At the onset of nAMD, a progressive fall in vision in the affected eye generallyoccurs over weeks and months and is more rapid with classic than occult CNV.<strong>Verteporfin</strong> is a light-sensitive drug which is used in combination with an infrared laser to treatabnormal blood vessels proliferating under or within the macular retina in patients with nAMDand, less frequently, in some other eye conditions. The drug is injected intravenously and bindsselectively to endothelial cells in the abnormal retinal vessels. The drug is activated by low-energylaser radiation, causing the abnormal vessels to regress. These two steps, that is initial infusion ofverteporfin followed by laser exposure, are known as verteporfin <strong>photodynamic</strong> <strong>therapy</strong> (VPDT).Over time the vessels frequently reopen and so treatment usually needs to be repeated 3-monthly.<strong>Verteporfin</strong> <strong>photodynamic</strong> <strong>therapy</strong> has been shown in randomised clinical trials to be betterthan sham treatment in maintaining sight in patients with nAMD. In the clinical trials of VPDTcarried out <strong>for</strong> licensing, the Treatment of Age-<strong>related</strong> macular degeneration with Photodynamic<strong>therapy</strong> (TAP) trials and the <strong>Verteporfin</strong> in Photodynamic <strong>therapy</strong> (VIP) trials, 3–5 the overalldifference between treatment and placebo groups was small except in a subgroup of patientsin whom ≥ 50% of the area of CNV was classified as classic by FA; in this subgroup, the benefitwas larger. 4There are no established criteria <strong>for</strong> stopping a course of treatment. The treatment protocol usedin the TAP trials required 3-monthly reviews of FA <strong>for</strong> 2 years with retreatment if active CNVwas observed. 3The cost of a course of <strong>therapy</strong> has been estimated to be between £6000 and £8000. This relativelyhigh cost arises largely because of the frequency of retreatment episodes in research cohorts.Cost-effectiveness was not estimated alongside the clinical trials used <strong>for</strong> licensing. In 2003,the National Institute <strong>for</strong> Clinical Excellence (NICE; now the National Institute <strong>for</strong> Health andClinical Excellence) recommended treatment in the UK NHS <strong>for</strong> patients with nAMD ‘who havea confirmed diagnosis of classic with no occult subfoveal choroidal <strong>neovascular</strong>isation’. 6 However,NICE did not recommend VPDT <strong>for</strong> people with predominantly classic CNV ‘except as part of© Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2012. This work was produced by Reeves et al. under the terms of a commissioning contract issued by theSecretary of State <strong>for</strong> Health.

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