Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy in Italy.
OBJECTIVE
To report on the frequency and clinical features of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in a consecutive series of elderly Italian patients presenting with macular exudation.


METHODS
The authors conducted a retrospective study on a series of 194 consecutive patients 50 years or older with newly diagnosed exudative maculopathy and the presumed diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Color and/or red-free photographs and fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography were performed in all patients.


RESULTS
Of the 194 patients, 19 (9.8%) were diagnosed with PCV. The remaining 175 (90.2%) patients had ARMD complicated by choroidal neovascularization. No age or sex differences were observed between the two groups. The disease was unilateral in 103 (58.9%) of 175 ARMD cases compared with 15 (78.9%) of 19 PCV cases (P = 0.09). Nine (47.3%) of 19 patients with PCV had an extramacular choroidal neovascularization, compared with only 5 (2.9%) of 175 patients with ARMD (P < 0.0001). Significant drusen were present in the fellow eyes of 66 (64.1%) of 103 unilateral cases in the ARMD group and in 4 (26.7%) of 15 patients with unilateral disease in the PCV group (P = 0.006).


CONCLUSIONS
Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy is not an uncommon disease in Italy and should be suspected in patients presenting with extramacular lesions and no large drusen in the fellow eye.
Scassellati-Sforzolini
B
B
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Ancona, Italy.
Mariotti
C
C
Bryan
R
R
Yannuzzi
L A
LA
Giuliani
M
M
Giovannini
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000175:diagnosis; D005122:Exudates and Transudates; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D007208:Indocyanine Green