Vanishing pachy-choroid in pachychoroid neovasculopathy under long-term anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy

Schworm, Benedikt; Luft, Nikolaus; Keidel, Leonie F.; Kreutzer, Thomas C.; Herold, Tina R.; Priglinger, Siegfried G. und Siedlecki, Jakob (2021): Vanishing pachy-choroid in pachychoroid neovasculopathy under long-term anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. In: BMC Ophthalmology, Bd. 21, Nr. 1, 269

Abstract

BackgroundTo investigate the diagnostic value of choroidal thickness in the definition of pachychoroid neovasculopathy (PNV), especially in eyes treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy.MethodsTwenty-two consecutive eyes of 11 patients with uni- or bilateral PNV were analyzed. Anti-VEGF treatment was correlated with changes in choroidal thickness on enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography.ResultsThere were 14 eyes with PNV and 8 non-neovascular partner eyes. Mean age was 64.24.0 (range: 60-72), total follow-up was 1.8 +/- 0.4 (1-2) years. In PNV eyes, choroidal thickness at baseline was 400 +/- 58 (269-485) mu m. After two years and 13 anti-VEGF injections on average, a mean reduction of -39 +/- 10 (-26 to -56) % to final 241 +/- 52 (162-327) mu m was observed (p <0.0001). Meanwhile, choroidal thickness in the partner eyes remained stable (p >0.13 for all comparisons). A significant correlation of choroidal thinning and anti-VEGF injection rate was observed at year one (r=-0.79;R-2 =0.63;p =0.00073) and two (r=-0.69;R-2 =0.48;p =0.019). While 85.7% of PNV eyes exceeded a pachychoroid threshold of >= 350 mu m at baseline, this figure dropped to 21.4% at year one and 0% at year two.Conclusion In PNV, choroidal thickness significantly decreases with anti-VEGF therapy, resembling a vanishing pachy-choroid, and thus does not represent a valid long-term diagnostic criterium, especially when differentiating PNV from nAMD.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• Sprache: Englisch