photodynamic therapy for Taiwanese patients with pathologic myopia: a 2-year follow-up.
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.
Chen
Ying-Shan
YS
Department of Ophthalmology, Cathay General Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan. dreyechen@cgh.org.tw
Lin
Jack Yu-Shih
JY
Tseng
Shih-Yu
SY
Yow
Shew-Gin
SG
Hsu
Wen-Jin
WJ
Tsai
Show-Chuan
SC
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
D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D011166:Porphyrins; D000077362:Verteporfin