Published in:
01-08-2016 | Retinal Disorders
Subfoveal choroidal thickness as a predictor of treatment response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy
Published in: Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology | Issue 8/2016
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Purpose
To investigate whether subfoveal choroidal thickness predicted treatment response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).
Methods
This retrospective observational case series included 66 eyes of 60 patients who were diagnosed with new-onset PCV and who were followed for a minimum of 6 months. Patients received three monthly intravitreal injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab or 1.25 mg bevacizumab, at baseline, month 1, and month 2. “Good responders” were defined as those who showed complete resolution of subretinal and/or intraretinal fluid at month 3 after the loading injections, whereas “poor responders” were defined as those who showed persistent retinal fluid on optical coherence tomography (OCT) at month 3 after treatment. Differences in best-corrected visual acuity, indocyanine green angiography, and spectral domain-OCT findings at baseline were analyzed between the two groups.
Results
The mean patient age was 68.2 ± 9.7 years, and the mean follow-up period was 27 ± 21 months. The mean subfoveal choroidal thickness was 273 ± 117 μm, and choroidal vascular hyperpermeability was observed in 35 eyes (53.0 %). Thirty-three eyes (50 %) showed good response to treatment, and a thinner subfoveal choroid at baseline significantly correlated with favorable treatment response (P = 0.024). However, there was no significant relationship between treatment response and choroidal vascular hyperpermeability (P = 0.999).
Conclusions
The subfoveal choroid was found to be significantly thinner among patients who achieved complete resolution of macular exudation after three loading injections of anti-VEGF agents.