A landmark trial has successfully used a radiotherapy robot system to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).
In the study published in The Lancet, a custom-built robot was used to treat nAMD, administering a one-off, minimally invasive dose of radiation, followed by patients’ routine treatment with injections into their eye.
Currently, first line treatment for nAMD are invasive anti-VEGF intravitreal injections which are usually administered every one to three months, indefinitely.
The trial explored stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) as a potential therapeutic as it has been shown to mitigate key pathogenic processes underlying nAMD.
Four-hundred and eleven participants were enrolled between 2015 and 2019.
The new treatment aimed three beams of highly focused radiation into diseased eyes and can be targeted better than existing methods.
Overall, eyes with microvascular abnormalities tended to have better best-corrected visual acuity than those without. Moreover, the SRT group required approximately three less injections over a two year period than the control group.
Fewer ranibizumab injections offset the cost of SRT, saving a mean of £565 (AU$1087) per participant, over the first two years.
The robot system is expected to help with patient compliance and reduce the frequency of intravitreal injections.
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