The Clinical Features Of Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

Objective To investigate the clinical features of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV)in Chinese patients. Methods Fundus examination,fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA),and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) were performed on 16 patients (16 eyes) with PCV, out of whom 8 underwent optical coherenece tomography (OCT).Results Sixteen patients affected eyes unilaterally. The patients included 10 males(62.5%)and 6 females (37.5%) aging from 36 to 75 year old (average63.4).The predominant location for these lesions was the macular region in 14 eyes(87.5%), peripapillary region in 2(12.5%). In 16 eyes with PCV, 13(81.25%) had subretinal hemorrhage, 11 (68.75%) had yellow-white exudation,4(25%) had reddish-orange nodular elevations at the posterior pole. The results of FFA discovered hemorrhagic or (and)serous pigment epithelium detachment(PED) in 9eyes and choroidal vascular network in 1 eyes. At the late phase, leakage of hyperfluorescence spot in all of the eyes were found. ICGA revealed polypoidal dilations with umbrellalike or twiglike branching vascular networks in 12 eyes and scattered polypoidal dilations without identifiable continuous branching vascular network in 4 eyes. OCT disclosed protrusion of the retinal pigment epitelium (RPE) with abumpy surface at polypoidal structure in 7 eyes and no change in 1 eye. An apparent discontinuity was observed in the highly reflective layer which delineates the polypoidal structure.Conclusions The eyes was affected mostly unilaterally in PCV. Most of polypoidal vascular lesions are present in the macular area. subretinal hemorrhage, serous PED, and (or)neuroepithelial detachment with yellow hard exudations are the main manifestations. Branching choroidal vascular net with ployplike terminal anourysmal dilations can be discovered in ICGA.