Use of fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy patients following photodynamic therapy.
BACKGROUND
Exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a sight-threatening event in many elderly people. Some patients have a much better outcome in visual acuity (VA) than others after treatment with photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin. The combination of fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green (ICG) angiography using the Heidelberg Retina Angiograph II (HRA 2) should make a delineation of distinct pattern(s) possible in order to better select and assess therapy.


METHODS
This is a retrospective, case-control, single-centre study. We identified a total of 168 eyes of 168 patients from July 2003 to June 2006, including 30 eyes of 30 patients with better visual outcome, defined in this study as VA < or = 0.48 logMAR (> or =20/60 Snellen chart) at the end of the study. Best-corrected VA, maximal central retinal thickness as measured by optical coherence tomography, and results of the FA/ICG angiography using the HRA 2 were analyzed. In this article, we discuss patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) and their characteristics.


RESULTS
The average follow-up time was 15.3 months (range 4-28 months). Seventeen (57%) of the 30 patients with better visual outcome had PCV. All patients in the group with better visual outcome needed fewer PDT treatments compared with our control group of patients with an exudative AMD.


CONCLUSIONS
Simultaneous FA/ICG angiography using the HRA 2 allowed delineation of a subgroup of patients with PCV who showed a better visual outcome compared with those with other types of exudative AMD, after treatment with PDT.
Windisch
Roman
R
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Eye Center, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.
Windisch
Bettina K
BK
Cruess
Alan F
AF
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology
D004396:Coloring Agents; D007208:Indocyanine Green