Two-Year Results of Photodynamic Therapy for Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

Purpose To report on the two-year visual outcomes of indocyanine green angiography-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT) for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) patients. Design Retrospective case study. Methods A retrospective analysis that examined the clinical and angiographic data related to 41 eyes of 38 PCV patients (25 males, 13 females; average age ± standard deviation [SD], 72.9 ± 7.4 years) with follow-up periods of 24 months or more. Results The average number of PDT treatments was 1.65. After the 12-month follow-up, 12 eyes required retreatment. Although the mean visual acuity (VA) ± SD before PDT (0.55 ± 0.38 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution units) improved to 0.46 ± 0.41 at 12 months after the initial PDT, at 24 months, it declined significantly to 0.59 ± 0.44 ( P = .0018). Although only seven of 41 eyes exhibited VA deterioration at the 12-month follow-up examination, a decreased VA was noted in 18 eyes during the period starting from the 12-month follow-up until the final examination. The cases were bilateral in 11 (61.1%) of the 18 eyes. At the final examination, the mean VA of the bilateral cases but not the unilateral cases was significantly lower than that observed for the initial VA. Conclusions PDT is an effective treatment against PCV over the short-term for both unilateral and bilateral cases. However, the VA prognosis may not the same after 12 months, especially for those PCV patients who have exudative age-related macular degeneration in contralateral eye.