Purpose: Although it is reported that the prognosis for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy(PCV) is better than that for age-related macular degeneration, visual acuity is not always good in eyes with subfoveal hemorrhage. We evaluated the factors that may affect the visual prognosis after subfoveal hematoma associated with PCV.
Subject: We examined retrospectively the records of 37 eyes in 34 patients that were diagnosed as PCV by indocyanine green angiography from January 1998 to July 2000 at Kyoto University Hospital. Among the 37 eyes, we chose 15 eyes in 15 patients that had subfoveal hematoma of more than 1 disk diameter, and evaluated the area of hematoma, period required for absorption of the hematoma, association of choroidal neovascularization(CNV), treatment, and visual acuity change.
Results: The area and the absorption period of the hematoma did not correlate with the visual prognosis. Association of CNV strongly influenced the visual outcome after the absorption of subretinal hemorrhage. Four eyes with CNV received various treatments, but no restoration of visual acuity was observed.
Conclusion: CNV association mostly affected the prognosis of PCV with hematoma. Early detection of CNV appeared important to predict visual prognosis.