Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy treatment: 3-year results in Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the treatment efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin for patients suffered from polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. In this retrospective comparative study, we included 25 eyes of 25 patients with macula-involved polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. All patients had follow-up of more than 3 years. We compared the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in logarithm of minimal angle of resolution (logMAR) scale at each follow-up time points with initial baseline BCVA. We also investigated the factors influencing final BCVA at the 36-month follow-up time point. At 6 months, the mean BCVA improved from 0.77 to 0.68 (p = 0.024). All the mean BCVAs after the 6-month follow-up time points were still better than baseline mean BCVA, but the improvements were not significant statistically. The mean BCVAs became 0.68, 0.74, 0.75, 0.73, and 0.72 respectively at 12-month, 18-month, 24-month, 30-month, and 36-month follow-up time points. Better initial BCVA (p = 0.012) and smaller lesion size (p = 0.031) significantly predicted the better final visual improvement at 36 months rather than sex (p = 0.7) and age (p = 0.206). Although the visual improvement after treatment of PDT with verteporfin was only temporarily significant, the prevention of visual deterioration in these patients persisted during a 3-year follow-up. Better initial BCVA and smaller lesion size were significant factors influencing final visual improvement, and early treatment might be suggested.