title: photodynamic therapy for Taiwanese patients with pathologic myopia: a 2-year follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the efficacy of photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (VPDT) for treatment of subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with pathologic myopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective study, adult patients (18 years of age or older) with new onset subfoveal CNV were treated in two tertiary centers with the standard protocol of VPDT. Snellen best-corrected visual acuity was measured at baseline and at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, and 24 months after VPDT. Stratified analyses for single and multiple treatments and different age groups were performed by paired t-tests, and the results were compared with baseline findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three patients with single VPDT and 13 patients with multiple treatments were enrolled for analysis. Significant improvement in measurement of visual acuity was found after 24 months of follow-up for the group with single therapy. For patients receiving multiple treatments, an improving trend was not as clear. In prognosis analysis by age groups in the single-treatment group, the younger group had better mean visual acuity at the end of the 24-month study period than the older group. Improvement was much more evident in the younger group, although it was not statistically significant at every follow-up time point.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with response to single VPDT, visual acuity significantly improved over a 2-year period. In patients receiving multiple treatments, improvement was not as distinctive, suggesting alternative treatment options might be relevant for this subgroup.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Cathay General Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan. dreyechen@cgh.org.tw
authors: Ying-Shan
authors: YS
authors: Chen
authors: Jack Yu-Shih
authors: JY
authors: Lin
authors: Shih-Yu
authors: SY
authors: Tseng
authors: Shew-Gin
authors: SG
authors: Yow
authors: Wen-Jin
authors: WJ
authors: Hsu
authors: Show-Chuan
authors: SC
authors: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005584:Fovea Centralis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D047728:Myopia, Degenerative / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan; D000077362:Verteporfin; D014792:Visual Acuity
chemical_list: D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D011166:Porphyrins; D000077362:Verteporfin