Treatment of choroidal neovascularization in central serous chorioretinopathy by photodynamic therapy with verteporfin

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin in the treatment of patients with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Design: Open-label, two-center, noncomparative, prospective interventional case series. Methods: Consecutive patients with subfoveal or juxtafoveal CNV secondary to CSC were recruited and treated with a standard regimen of PDT with verteporfin. At regular 3,month follow,up examinations, re-treatment was considered if fluorescein angiography showed evidence of leakage. Outcome measures included the proportion of patients who had improvement (gained 2 more lines), stable, or loss (dropped in 2 or more lines) in vision at the final follow-up and the changes in best, corrected visual acuity (BCVA) from baseline. Results: Ten eyes of 10 patients were recruited into the study. The mean age of the patients was 57.3 years with a mean follow,up duration of 12.6 months. At the last follow-up, six (60%) eyes gained 2 or more lines of BCVA with four (40%) patients having final BCVA of within 1 line. No patient lost 2 or more lines of BCVA. The mean logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution BCVA improvement after PDT was 2.4 lines (Wilcoxon signed rank test, P=.013). No patient suffered serious ocular or systemic complications from PDT. Conclusions: Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin therapy is a safe and well-tolerated treatment in patients with CNV associated with CSC. A randomized, controlled trial with a longer follow-up period is warranted to further study the efficacy of PDT in the management of CNV secondary to CSC.