Characteristics of Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy Associated with Subretinal Hemorrhage

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical features and risk factors of hemorrhagic complications in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) using spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). METHODS: We respectively reviewed the data from 43 patients (45 eyes) diagnosed with PCV who received ICGA between January 2010 and October 2013. The patients were divided into 2 groups 16 patients (17 eyes) with subretinal hemorrhage (subretinal hemorrhagic PCV group) and 27 patients (28 eyes) without subretinal hemorrhage (control group). Based on the ICGA and SD-OCT findings, the number, morphology, location, size of polyps, pigment epithelial detachment (PED), and serous retinal detachment (SRD) were measured and compared between the 2 groups. We also analyzed systemic diseases and history of antithrombotic agents associated with subretinal hemorrhage in PCV. RESULTS: The size of polyps measured by ICGA was significantly different between the 2 groups (p = 0.006). As the size of polyps increased, the size of subretinal hemorrhage, height of PED, base diameter and height of SRD increased (p 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The patients in the subretinal hemorrhagic PCV group had larger-sized polyps than the patients in the control group. This result suggests that eyes with larger-sized polyps are at risk for hemorrhagic complications and require more careful follow-up and observation in PCV treatment-naive patients.