AIM: To study the concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in aqueous humor in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration(wAMD)before and after Ranibizumab treating at high altitude and the correlation of VEGF concentration with central fovea macula thickness.

METHODS: The patients with wAMD in our hospital from Jun. 2014. to Oct. 2015 were retrospectively analyzed, diagnosed after best corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, fundus examination, fundus color photography, fluorescence fundus angiography(FFA)and optical coherence tomography(OCT)inspection. Seventy- six patients with cataract without choroidal neovascularization(CNV)were selected as control group. In the 76 patients(76 eyes), 46 were male, 30 were female, aged 40-80(55±11.18). The course was 0.3-6mo. The corrected visual acuity was 0.01-0.6. The intraocular press was 15.24±3.12mmHg. The CNV in all cases was within the range of the 500μm in diameter. Under surface anesthesia, Ranibizumab(0.5mg)was injected into vitreous cavity. Before and after injection, aqueous humor was obtained and used to detect the concentration of VEGF through ELISA. Best corrected visual acuity, slit lamp microscope, intraocular pressure, OCT and FFA were observed after treatment.

RESULTS:The clinical curative effect is the best at 1mo after treatment with statistical significance(P<0.05). The concentration of VEGF in aqueous humor in wAMD patients before treatment(95.48±50.09pg/mL)was higher than that of control group(43.01±16.17pg/mL). The concentration of VEGF decreased at 1mo after treatment as 31.89±14.14pg/Ml(P<0.05). The concentration of VEGF was positive related with central fovea macula thickness(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: For wAMD patients, Ranibizumab injection is effective for it reduces the concentration of VEGF in aqueous humor and the central fovea macula thickness. The VEGF concentration in aqueous humor and foveal retinal thickness has a positive correlation.