Original article
Pigment Epithelial Detachment in Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2006.08.025Get rights and content

Purpose

To study the morphological features of serosanguineous pigment epithelial detachments (PEDs) with accompanying polypoidal lesions in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

Design

Retrospective observational case series.

Methods

For this observational case study, we retrospectively reviewed 93 consecutive eyes of 85 patients with PCV. The lesions in eyes with PCV were examined with indocyanine green angiography (IA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Results

Of 93 eyes with PCV, 51 eyes (55%) had serous or hemorrhagic PEDs. Of these 51 eyes, a notch in the PED was found in 27 eyes (53%) by angiography, most of which showed polypoidal lesions by IA that corresponded in location to the notch observed by angiography. Polypoidal lesions were detected outside the PED in one eye (2%), at the margin of the PED in 33 eyes (65%), and inside the PED in 12 eyes (24%). OCT revealed that PED had a notch observed tomographically in 29 eyes (57%), most of which corresponded in location to polypoidal lesions seen by IA. In eight eyes, polypoidal lesions, which were adherent to the inner surface of the serous PED, appeared to be detached from the Bruch membrane and the choroid.

Conclusions

Polypoidal lesions are located at the margin of PED and make a notch in the accompanying PED that is visible by angiography and tomographically. When the polypoidal lesions have increased exudate, the fluid from the lesions infiltrates under the polypoidal lesions themselves, which results in the lesions detaching from the Bruch membrane and appearing to be located inside the PED.

Section snippets

Methods

For this observational case study, we retrospectively reviewed 93 consecutive eyes of 85 patients with PCV who visited the Macular Service in Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan, for the first time from April 2004 to October 2005. All patients underwent comprehensive ophthalmologic examination, including best-corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, indirect ophthalmoscopy, slit-lamp biomicroscopy with contact lens, and OCT examination. Two types of OCT (Stratus OCT3000, Carl Zeiss,

Results

In the current study, we examined 93 eyes of 85 patients (56 men and 29 women), ranging in age from 49 to 93 years (71.4 ± 8.7 years). All patients were Japanese. The visual acuity of eyes with PCV ranged from hand motion to 20/15 (median 20/50). In all eyes, IA showed polypoidal lesions, most of which were connecting to a branching vascular network. In 92 eyes (99%), reddish-orange nodules were seen by ophthalmoscopic examination; many of these nodules corresponded to the polypoidal lesions

Discussion

PCV is characterized by a branching vascular network terminating in polypoidal lesions3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and is often accompanied by serous or hemorrhagic PEDs.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 In our patients, 55% of eyes with PCV had PED observed by angiography. Although many PEDs in eyes with PCV appear oval or round by angiography,7, 9 they often have a notch at the margin. In eyes with AMD, Gass30 previously reported that a notched border of large serous PED is an important

Akitaka Tsujikawa, MD, is a graduate of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Kyoto University Hospital and a fellowship in ophthalmology at the Kurashiki Central Hospital in Japan. Following fellowship, he worked on the retinal microcirculation at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine and on diabetic retinopathy at the Children’ Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr Tsujikawa currently specializes in macular

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    Akitaka Tsujikawa, MD, is a graduate of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Kyoto University Hospital and a fellowship in ophthalmology at the Kurashiki Central Hospital in Japan. Following fellowship, he worked on the retinal microcirculation at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine and on diabetic retinopathy at the Children’ Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr Tsujikawa currently specializes in macular diseases at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine.

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