Purpose: To examine the effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin on subfoveal or juxtafoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to pathologic myopia in Japanese patients and to compare the visual outcomes of PDT-treated patients with that of age-matched and visual acuity-matched untreated controls.
Design: Prospective, open-label, consecutive, interventional case series.
Methods: We prospectively followed up 43 eyes of 42 consecutive patients with pathologic myopia (>6 diopters or axial length>26.5 mm) who received PDT for myopic CNV. In addition, the visual outcomes of these patients who were followed up for more than one year were compared with those of age- and initial visual acuity-matched untreated controls.
Results: The average follow-up was 15.0+/-7.0 months. Patients received an average of 1.40+/-0.73 treatments during follow-up, and 30 eyes (69.8%) required only one treatment. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved by more than two Snellen lines in seven eyes (16.3%), decreased in six eyes (14.0%), and remained stable in 30 eyes (69.7%). In three eyes with a juxtafoveal CNV, CNV could not be detected ophthalmoscopically or angiographically after PDT. Statistical analysis showed that the PDT-treated patients had significantly better visual acuity at one year after PDT than the age- and initial BCVA-matched untreated controls.
Conclusions: These results indicate that PDT was beneficial for maintaining vision in Japanese patients with myopic CNV. The visual outcome after PDT was better than the natural course of the disease as determined from untreated controls. The effect on chorioretinal atrophy around CNV should be investigated with a long-term study.