title: Subtype lesions of neovascular age-related macular degeneration in Chinese patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the subtype frequency and clinical features of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Chinese patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 2003 to August 2006, we investigated prospectively 155 newly diagnosed patients with presumed neovascular AMD. Fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) were performed in both eyes of all patients. Subtype frequency and clinical features were recorded according to their angiograms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three subtypes of lesion were noted, which were polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP) and mixed lesions. Of the 155 patients, 105 (67.7%) had choroidal neovascularization (CNV) of the typical type seen in AMD, 38 (24.5%) had PCV and seven (4.5%) had RAP. In five (3.2%) additional cases, mixed lesions were noted. In 38 cases (47 eyes) with PCV, the rates of subfoveal, juxtafoveal and extrafoveal lesion were respectively 29.8% (14 eyes), 8.5% (four eyes), and 61.7% (29 eyes), compared with 75.6%, 14.6% and 9.8% for CNV lesion (P < 0.01). The percentage of subfoveal lesion in PCV group was significantly lower than that in the CNV group (P < 0.01). The location of the RAP lesion was subfoveal in two (28.6%) eyes, juxtafoveal in three (42.9%) eyes and extrafoveal in two (28.6%) eyes. The five eyes with mixed lesions were all PCV coexisting with CNV at the same eye, and in all of the five cases, CNV was subfoveal while PCV was extrafoveal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this hospital-based study, PCV accounts for 24.5% of neovascular AMD and is the most common subtype, RAP is less frequent (4.5%), and mixed lesions are much less common in Chinese patients. PCV is least likely to involve the fovea in neovascular AMD.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 54 Xianlie Road, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Shizhou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Guangwei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Zuhua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Dezheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000798:Angiomatosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015861:Retinal Neovascularization / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology