Subfoveal choroidal neovascularization in a patient with hemicentral vein occlusion

The association between choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and retinal vein occlusive disease is uncommon. Before the introduction of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs, photodynamic therapy (PDT) was used, with conflicting functional results. We report a case of a 69-year-old male patient who came to our attention for macular edema in hemiretinal vein occlusion. Fluorescein angiogram showed presence of venous collaterals, but the pattern of the edema was atypical; optical coherence tomography (OCT) and indocyanine green angiography (ICG) were used to confirm the diagnosis of CNV. A chorio-retinal shunt was demonstrated. The autofluorescence technique was used to predict the risk of CNV in the fellow eye. PDT was performed twice, but after the second cycle, patient developed choroidal ischemia and the visual outcomes were poor. The temporal course of CNV, the presence of a chorio-retinal shunt, and the autofluorescence pattern in the fellow eye let us to speculate that the CNV was related to the vascular occlusive process. We can speculate that the overexpression of VEGF induced by local ischemia and inflammation can make these patients more likely to have CNV. However, to our knowledge, there are no accurate estimates of the incidence of CNV in other retinal vascular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.