Purpose:
To evaluate the effect of verteporfin-photodynamic treatment (PDT) on choroidal thickness in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).
Methods:
Choroidal thickness was measured before and after verteporfin-photodynamic therapy (PDT, full-dose verteporfin, half light dose) in 16 eyes in 16 patients with serous detachment of the fovea secondary to extrafoveal angiographic fluorescein leakage. Treatment was confined to the area of leakage, whereas choroidal thickness before and after treatment was assessed over a larger area of the fundus using optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Results:
Complete resolution of the serous detachment was seen in all 16 eyes within one month of extrafoveal PDT, while choroidal thickness in the area where PDT was applied decreased from 407 µm (mean; CI95 356 to 458 µm) to 349 µm (mean; CI95 300 to 399 µm; p < 0.0001) and subfoveal choroidal thickness was reduced from 421µm (mean; CI95 352 to 489 µm) to 346 µm (mean; CI95 278 to 414 µm; p = 0.0001). Initially subfoveal choroidal thickness was significantly increased in the treated eye compared to the healthy fellow eye (mean 324 µm; CI95 273 to 376 µm; p = 0.0003) but after treatment the difference was not significant.
Conclusions:
Photodynamic therapy of active CSC was followed by choroidal thickness reduction, not only locally but also at considerable distance from the treated area. Thus, the process that causes choroidal thickening in CSC appears to spread laterally within in the choroid.
Clinical Trial:
www.drvk.dk, H-D-2008-046
Keywords: photodynamic therapy • macula/fovea • choroid