Article
Photodynamic therapy in pathologic myopia: importance of patient age and baseline visual acuity
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Published: | September 22, 2004 |
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Outline
Text
Objective
To investigate the influence of patient age and baseline visual acuity on the one-year results of photodynamic therapy in pathologic myopia.
Methods
One year visual acuity outcomes of cases of pathologic myopia (PM) underwent photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (PDT) in a 4 years period were reviewed. In contrast to the VIP study inclusion criteria, patients with baseline visual acuity between 20/200 and 20/100 were also included. Main outcome variables were mean change of visual acuity at 12 months. A subgroup analysis for patient age younger or older than 45 years and baseline visual acuity higher or lower than 20/100 was also performed.
Results
Out of 468 patients underwent PDT in the 1st Department of Ophthalmology, Semmelweis University, Budapest between april 2000 and december 2003, 70 patients had choroideal neovascularisation due to PM. Fifty-nine of them met the inclusion criteria of this study. There was no significant change in visual acuity at 3 or 12 months (results similar to that of the VIP study). Baseline visual acuity was significantly better in the younger (20/63) than in the older age group (20/100), however, younger patients gained on average 1.2 lines while older patients lost 1.7 lines.
Conclusions
Our results confirm the outcomes of the VIP study. In clinical practice, photodynamic therapy might be also considered for myopic patients with visual acuity 20/200 to 20/100 (i.e. under the limit of the VIP study). Older patients have a worse prognosis then younger myopes: 12 month results of the myopic patients older than 45 years are similar to that of patients with age- related macula degeneration.