Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy with drusen.
OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence and clinical features of drusen in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).


METHODS
Retrospectively, we reviewed the records of 98 consecutive patients with PCV (102 eyes). Drusen were examined in the inner macula, which was defined as an area within 1500 microm of the center of the fovea. Eyes that had at least one intermediate or large (>or=63 microm) soft drusen within the inner macula were defined as having drusen.


RESULTS
In these 102 eyes with PCV, 23 (23%) showed soft drusen in the inner macula. In such cases, the fellow eyes, those without a PCV lesion, sometimes also showed soft drusen in the inner macula (11 eyes); 34 (33%) of the eyes with PCV had soft drusen in the inner macula of at least one eye. Comparison of the group of eyes with PCV and drusen in one or both eyes with the group with PCV and no drusen in either eye revealed no significant difference in patient characteristics or in ocular manifestations.


CONCLUSIONS
Drusen are not an unusual feature of PCV, at least in Japanese patients, and, when present, they appear to have only a minor effect, if any, on the clinical course.
Iwama
Daisuke
D
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Tsujikawa
Akitaka
A
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan. tujikawa@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Sasahara
Manabu
M
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Hirami
Yasuhiko
Y
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Tamura
Hiroshi
H
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Yoshimura
Nagahisa
N
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply*; D015862:Choroid Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015995:Prevalence; D015593:Retinal Drusen / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
D004396:Coloring Agents; D007208:Indocyanine Green