[Clinical characteristics of idiopathic polypoidal choroid vasculopathy]

Originally, idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (IPCV) was thought to present as a bilateral disorder with peripapillary location of the polipoidal lesions in predominantly black patients. Until now, only a few patients have been described in Europe.

A retrospective study of the clinical spectrum of nine Caucasian patients with IPCV using standard clinical fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) techniques.

ICGA demonstrated the typical vascular dilatations in the inner choroid in all patients. The polypoidal lesions were unilateral in six, bilateral in three patients, isolated in the macular in six and peripapillar in three patients. During the course of follow-up (range 6-92 months, mean 29.4 months) vitreous hemorrhage occurred in one eye, the polypoidal lesions spontaneously disappeared in three eyes and new lesions grew in two eyes. Laser photocoagulation was beneficial in three out of five treated eyes.

The clinical manifestations of IPCV overlap with those of exudative age-related macular degeneration and central serous retinopathy. However, there are differences in the natural course, the visual prognosis and the response to laser treatment. ICGA is helpful to differentiate these entities.