Intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment has become an important part in the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In the present study we describe the clinical feature of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) tears after intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF agent and compared the tear group to the control group.

In this retrospective case series, data of 11 patients with eyes that developed RPE tears after intravitreal anti-VEGF injection (8 ranibizumab and 3 bevacizumab) were collected and analyzed. The tear group included 11 patients with eyes that developed RPE tears and the control group included 22 patients with no RPE tears after treatment. We investigated age, gender, bilaterality, duration from injection to tear, pigment epithelial detachment (PED) height and diameter, along with central retinal thickness (CMT) using optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescein angiography (FAG), and visual acuities before and after treatment.

The mean age of the tear group was 81.36 ± 5.55 years which was significantly different from the control group's mean age of 74.82 ± 5.28 years ( p = 0.003). OCT findings showed PED greatest linear dimension (GLD) was 2978.45 ± 947.69 µm in the tear group and 2250.23 ± 988.49 µm in the control group ( p = 0.027). PED height was 507.09 ± 153.97 µm in the tear group and 353.23 ± 199.42 µm in the control group ( p = 0.010). CMT was 431.64 ± 200.33 µm in the tear group and 289.95 ± 61.27 µm in the control group ( p = 0.005). There was no significant difference between groups according to gender, bilaterality, visual acuities, and subretinal fluid based on OCT and FAG findings. In the tear group, visual acuities before and after the tear were not significantly different.

Old age and eyes with high and wide PED appear to be more vulnerable to RPE tear. Further investigation with a larger number of patients is needed to further confirm these results.