[The changes over time in areas of abnormal choroidal staining in central serous chorioretinopathy]

We discuss the permeability of the choroid in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

Forty-eight eyes of 48 patients with active CSC and their fellow eyes were studied with indocyanine green angiography (IA). Abnormal choroidal stainings in the late phase were fed in to a computer and hyperfluorescent areas were summated. The hyperfluorescent area at the initial examination was compared with that at the second examination. The values obtained were compared with the clinical characteristics shown by ophthalmoscopic, fluorescein angiographic (FA), and IA findings.

The abnormal choroidal staining during IA was observed in 90% of the affected eyes and 67% of the fellow eyes. The average abnormal staining area was larger in the affected eyes than in the fellow eyes and decreased over time in both affected and fellow eyes, but the decrease rate of the abnormal staining was higher in the affected eyes. In FA abnormal staining areas of the smokestack type were significantly smaller than those of the round-diffusion type. The range of abnormal choroidal staining was significantly smaller in the affected eyes treated with laser photocoagulation than in the eyes not treated without laser coagulation.

We conclude that the range of abnormal choroidal staining is consistent with changes of activity in the course of CSC, that the malfunction of the retinal pigment epithelium and choroidal hyperpermeability mutually influence CSC and that the disappearance of serous detachment in the clinical course plays an important role in the improvement of choroidal permeability and the retinal pigment epithelium function.