title: [Five-year visual outcomes of typical age-related macular degeneration and/or polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy patients who received photodynamic therapy (PDT) as initial treatment in comparison with patients prior to the PDT era].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate five-year visual outcomes of typical age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in patients who received photodynamic therapy (PDT) as initial treatment compared with the outcomes of patients prior to the PDT era.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three eyes observed for 5 years before PDT was available (group A: typical AMD/PCV 16 eyes/7 eyes) and 61 eyes which had been observed for 5 years after PDT with additional treatment as needed (group B: typical AMD/PCV 25 eyes/36 eyes). The visual changes in these groups were retrospectively compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In group A of typical AMD patients, the mean visual acuity (VA, logMAR) was significantly worse at the 3-year visit and later. In group B of typical AMD patients, the VA was stabilized after 2 years and no significant mean VA deterioration was observed for 5 years. More patients in group B retained a logMAR of less than 1.0 (43% vs. 25%) than in group A. Those patients in group B with PCV, maintained the VA for one year, but it gradually worsened thereafter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PDT shortened the duration of VA deterioration in typical AMD patients from 5 to 2 years with no significant VA decrease for 5 years. The positive effect of PDT on PCV eyes was temporary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Japan. masayuki_lemonsoda_0611@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mandai
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kameda
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurimoto
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002829:Choroid / Q000503:physiopathology; D015862:Choroid Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014226:Triazenes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D014226:Triazenes; C008848:1-phenyl-3,3-dimethyltriazene