Early retinal and choroidal effect of photodynamic treatment in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy with or without anti-vascular endothelial growth factor: An optical coherence tomography angiography study

Purpose: To evaluate the early retinal and choroidal effects of the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (antiVEGF) therapy combined with photodynamic therapy (PDT) for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). Methods: Patients diagnosed as having PCV were included in the study. In group 1, intravitreal ranibizumab and PDT was applied to six eyes. In group 2, PDT treatment only was applied to four eyes. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography images and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were taken from all patients before treatment and 3 days after surgery. Results: The mean age of the patients was 66.00 +/- 6.28 years. In group 1, the initial BCVA was 0.70 +/- 0.35 logMAR and the final BCVA was 1.1 +/- 0.78 logMAR. In group 2, the initial BCVA was 0.47 +/- 0.17 logMAR and the final BCVA was 0.50 +/- 0.21 logMAR. In group 1, flow rate significantly decreased in the superficial area (p = 0.028), the flow rate also decreased in other layers but they were not statistically significant (p < 0.05). In group 2, the flow rate decreased but these changes were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Vascular constriction and choroidal ischemia were seen in two patients in group 1. Conclusion: In the short term, retinal and choroidal blood flow decreased after PDT treatment. However, statistically significant changes were seen only in the superficial area in group 1.