Clinical characteristics of subretinal deposits in central serous chorioretinopathy.
OBJECTIVE
To describe abnormal subretinal material in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).


METHODS
Retrospective observational case series.


METHODS
168 consecutive patients (336 eyes) with a definite diagnosis of serous foveal detachment attributable to CSC in one or both eyes, on one or more occasions.


METHODS
Review of all cases seen during a six-year period. Grading of the amount of subretinal material at presentation as absent, questionable, mild, moderate or severe.


RESULTS
Of 168 patients with CSC, 133 (79%) were men and 35 (21%) women. The median age was 45.2 years (range 22-70 yrs). The median duration of symptoms was 2 months (range 0.1-144 months). Subretinal material was found in the symptomatic eye or, in bilateral cases, in the eye that had most recently become symptomatic in 138 patients and in increasing amounts with increasing duration of symptoms (p < 0.001) but unrelated to age or sex. A substantial fraction of the material was shown by optical coherence tomography to be attached to the photoreceptor outer segments of the detached retina.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing amounts of subretinal material are found with increasing duration of symptoms in eyes with CSC. This suggests that early granular deposits may be composed of fragments of photoreceptor outer segments that accumulate when the phagocytosis photoreceptor outer segment material is disrupted by the serous detachment of the retina. Other possible origins that cannot be excluded include plasma proteins excluding from the choriocapillaris, inflammatory debris, and lipid exudate originating from occult choroidal neovascularization secondary to CSC.
Wang
Maria
M
Department of Ophthalmology, Herlev Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sander
Birgit
B
la Cour
Morten
M
Larsen
Michael
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015862:Choroid Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000473:pathology*; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012374:Rod Cell Outer Segment / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence