PDT can benefit eyes with AMD-related chorioretinal anastomosis

Photodynamic therapy can benefit patients with chorioretinal anastomosis associated with age-related macular degeneration, according to a study by researchers in Portugal. However, disease recurrence can cause a significant loss of visual acuity during the second year after treatment, the authors noted.

Rufino M. Silva, MD, and colleagues evaluated best corrected visual acuity and angiographic features over 2 years follow-up for 28 eyes of 23 patients. All patients were treated with Visudyne (verteporfin, Novartis) photodynamic therapy for neovascular AMD with chorioretinal anastomosis, according to the study.

Surgeons performed an average of three PDT treatments during the first year and 0.8 treatments during the second year.

All 28 eyes completed 1-year follow-up, and 19 eyes completed the 2-year follow-up.

At 2 years, the researchers found that 53% of eyes had lost less than three lines of visual acuity, with most vision lost during the second year. Specifically, eyes had lost an average of 0.5 lines of visual acuity during the first year and 2.4 lines of vision during the second year, according to the study.

Also at 2 years, four eyes (21%) had experienced a disease recurrence with significant additional visual acuity loss, and 14 eyes (74%) showed no fluorescein leakage, the authors noted.

The study is published in the August issue of Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.