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Eye (2009) 23, 6772& 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved 0950-222X/09 $32.00
http://www.nature.com/eye
Web End =www.nature.com/eye
Y Mitamura1, M Kubota-Taniai1, K Okada1, M Kitahashi1, T Baba1, S Mizunoya2 andS Yamamoto1
Comparison of photodynamic therapy to transpupillary thermotherapy for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy
CLINICALSTUDY
Abstract
Purpose To compare the therapeutic efcacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) to that of transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). Methods PDT or TTT was performed on46 eyes of 46 patients with PCV; 19 eyes were treated with TTT (TTT group) and 27 eyes with PDT (PDT group). PCV was diagnosed by fundus examination, uorescein angiography (FA) , and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) . The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) units and OCT-determined foveal thickness were evaluated before and after treatment. For statistical analyses, the Students t-test and v2 test were used.
Results The number of treatments during the 12-month follow-up period was signicantly higher in the TTT group (1.7 times) than in the PDT group (1.3 times; P 0.0134). The
difference in the BCVA between the TTT and PDT groups at the baseline was not signicant (P 0.3150), but the BCVA in the PDT group
was signicantly better than that in the TTT group at 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment (P 0.0093, P 0.0074, P 0.0006,
respectively). The foveal thickness decreased markedly at 6 months after treatment in the PDT group (Po0.0001) but not signicantly in the TTT group (P 0.8982). A vitreous
haemorrhage was observed after treatment in two eyes in the TTT group.
Conclusions BCVA was signicantly better and the fovea was signicantly thinner in the PDT group than in the TTT group after treatment. Thus, PDT may be more effective
than TTT for the treatment of eyeswith PCV.
Eye (2009) 23, 6772; doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.eye.6702996
Web End =10.1038/sj.eye.6702996 ; published online 28 September 2007
Keywords: polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy; photodynamic therapy; transpupillary thermotherapy; age-related macular degeneration; optical coherence tomography
Introduction
Idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), rst described by Yannuzzi et al,1 appears as reddish-orange lesions that are polypoidal dilations of the choroidal vascular network. The lesions are located immediately below the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The pathogenesis of PCV has not been fully determined, but PCV is considered to...