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Younger patients show best response to PDT, surgeon reports
NEW YORK — Patients age 30 and under may have greater success after photodynamic therapy than patients in other age groups, according to a surgeon speaking here.
In a retrospective study of nine eyes of eight patients, Joseph M. Civantos, MD, of Joliet, Ill., found that younger patients needed fewer PDT re-treatments and achieved greater visual acuity than older patients.
All of the patients presented with classic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and small lesions, Dr. Civantos noted. The patients had CNV due to ocular histoplasmosis, multifocal choroiditis, Best’s disease, chorioretinal scarring or idiopathic origins.
On average, the patients required 1.8 PDT sessions per eye, Dr. Civantos told attendees here at the American Society of Retina Specialists’ meeting. In comparison, patients in the Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration with PDT (TAP) needed 4.4 sessions, while those in the Verteporfin in PDT (VIP) study required 4.1 sessions, he noted.
Visual acuity improved for eight of the patients and remained unchanged for one patient. The mean preoperative visual acuity was 20/50, which improved to 20/30 postoperatively, according to Dr. Civantos. TAP patients improved from 20/160 to 20/80, and VIP patients improved from 20/100 to 20/50, he added.