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PDT remains a viable option for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy
Retina. 2010;30(8):1197-1205.
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Photodynamic therapy offered potential for stable vision after 3 years in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, a study found.
In 27 eyes of patients who completed 3 years of follow-up, mean best corrected visual acuity was 0.93 logMAR, compared with 0.91 logMAR at baseline. Overall, in the prospective, nonrandomized institutional study, 74.1% of patients had no significant loss of vision, while 14.8% demonstrated significant improvement in BCVA.
Recurrence of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy was frequent, occurring in 59.3% of eyes. However, the researchers noted, eyes with recurrence fared no different than eyes without recurrence.
In the study, patients underwent a mean two sessions of PDT in the first year, 0.4 in the second year and 0.52 in the third year. Treatments were not associated with regression of BCVA.
"The only risk factor identified for significant loss of BCVA was the presence of a subfoveal serohemorrhagic pigment epithelial detachment," according to the study.
Recent studies have explored the possibility of using Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) in treatment of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. However, data on the efficacy of bevacizumab in this indication are sparse and short-term, the study authors said.
"Therefore, we consider that at the present time, PDT remains a better, although limited, therapeutic approach to [polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy] cases," they said.