title: Photodynamic therapy for nonsubfoveal choroidal neovascularization in 100 eyes with pathologic myopia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the visual and anatomic outcome of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in eyes with nonsubfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) associated with pathologic myopia (PM).
  
  
  METHODS
  Interventional, noncomparative cases series.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-seven patients (100 eyes) who were treated with PDT at three centers and followed up for three to 44 months (mean 16.5 months). Outcome measures were visual acuity, lesion size, and the occurrence of subfoveal invasion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median baseline visual acuity was 20/40(-2) and ranged from 20/20 to 20/160(+2). On average, visual acuity was stable throughout follow-up after a modest increase of about 0.5 lines between three and six months. The probability of losing 3 or more lines was 10% to 15% during the second year. Lesion size (median: 710 microns) slightly decreased after the first PDT and tended to increase later, but not to a statistically significant extent compared with baseline. The probability of developing subfoveal CNV stabilized at 10% in the second year. The mean number of PDTs per individual was 2.9 in the first year and 0.6 in the second.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual and anatomic outcomes of PDT, in this large group of patients with nonsubfoveal myopic CNV and good visual acuity, suggest that it may halt the progression of the disease in most cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oto-Neuro-Ophthalmological Surgical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale Morgagni 85, Florence 50134, Italy. gianni.virgili@unifi.it
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Virgili
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varano
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giacomelli
authors.forename: Maria Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Arena
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tedeschi
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pascarella
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: Ugo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Menchini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005584:Fovea Centralis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D047728:Myopia, Degenerative / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D017319:Photosensitizing Agents