Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To evaluate the surgical ablation of retinal choroidal anastomoses (RCA) in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Design: Prospective, nonrandomized pilot trial. Participants: Six eyes of 5 consecutive patients with exudative AMD and non-classic CNV with RCA. Methods: RCA were identified on clinical examination and confirmed with highspeed indocyanine green (ICG) angiography. Pars plana vitrectomy and lysing of the identified RCA was performed. Results: Visual acuity improved in 83% (5/6) from an average preoperative visual acuity of 20/200 to 20/70-20/80/. Two patients developed recurrences. Repeat surgery led to improvement in one patient to 20/30 and no improvement in the other. No patients developed retinal detachment, retinal tears, or endophthalmitis. Conclusions: Surgical ablation of RCA is a safe, promising, novel approach to the treatment of a subset of patients with exudative AMD. A randomized controlled prospective trial is needed to further determine the efficacy of surgical RCA ablation.