Retinal pigment epithelial and choroidal atrophy in wet age-related macular degeneration treated with multiple transpupillary themotherapy:A case report / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

ABSTRACT

AIM: To report a case of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treat with multiple transpupillary themotherapy (TTT) and choroidal neovascularization (CNV) disappeared but retinal pigment epithelial(PRE) and choroidal atrophy occurred with a low vision at the end point.METHODS: Clinical data including fundus hotographs, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), indocyanine angiography (ICGA) and optical coherence tomography(OCT) was reviewed.RESULTS: A 72-year-old man complained about blurred vision of his left eye and FFA revealed polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in the macula. His left eye had stable vision of 0.1 for 6 years without any treatment of CNV. About 2 years later, his right eye presented a piece of CNV. During the period of 3 years, the lesion remained more (3×5 PD) and less (1×2PD) in size with remarkable exudates and bleeding, and 7 sessions of TTT were applied with 80-280mW, 2mm of spot, and 60 seconds exposure and with the interval of 3 months or more. The CNV lesion finally disappeared, but there left a white area in the macula and vision decreased from 0.3 to 0.04.CONCLUSION: Although CNV lesion can be eliminated by TTT, obvious atrophy of RPE cells and the choroids can happen and this may not be of help for patient vision. It suggests that the parameters of TTT will be lower than 120 mW/mm and limited less two sessions if applicable, especially for Asia people.