Intra-Ocular Inflammation and Occlusive Retinal Vasculitis Following Intravitreal Injections of Faricimab: A Case Report

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Faricimab is a bispecific antibody that inhibits angiopoietin-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor-A action and has been approved for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. Clinical trials have demonstrated its favorable safety profile. This report presents a case of intra-ocular inflammation and occlusive retinal vasculitis following a second intravitreal injection of faricimab.

Methods

A single case report was obtained from a tertiary referral center.

Results

A 73-year-old Asian man diagnosed with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy presented with decreased vision in the left eye (OS) 2 weeks after the second faricimab administration. In the fourth week after the second faricimab injection, swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed hyperreflective dots in the vitreous cavity, indicating vitreous cells. Color fundus photography showed new-onset perivenular hemorrhages and pallor of the inferonasal retina OS, of which OCT revealed retinal inner layer thickening, suggestive of retinal arteriolar occlusions. Retinal fluorescein angiography revealed delayed filling of the inferior temporal vein. The patient was diagnosed with intraocular inflammation and occlusive retinal vasculitis OS associated with repeated intravitreal faricimab administrations. Intravitreal dexamethasone implant was used instead of faricimab at this visit.

Conclusions

The findings of this case hint towards the potential risk of retinal occlusive events associated with intravitreal faricimab injections.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse event
• faricimab
• intra-ocular inflammation
• occlusion
• retinal vasculitis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Xiamen Major Science and Technology Project [3502Z20221020] and the Nature Science Foundation of Xiamen [3502Z202371046].