Incidence and clinical patterns of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy in Korean patients

To determine the incidence, demographic features, and clinical characteristics of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in Korean patients.

A retrospective review was undertaken of 392 eyes of 321 symptomatic patients suspected of having exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after their first visit to a tertiary hospital between February 2002 and May 2006. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination, including fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA).

Of the 321 patients (392 eyes), 79 (98 eyes, 24.6%) were diagnosed with PCV. The mean PCV patient age was 64.6 +/- 7.6 years. PCV was more common in men (78.5%), and was usually unilateral (75.9%). In terms of PCV clinical manifestation, 52% of patients showed an exudative pattern, 34.7%, a hemorrhagic pattern, and 13.3%, an extensive hemorrhagic pattern. The mean visual acuity at presentation was 0.231 +/- 0.256. Classification was based on ICGA findings; 52% of patients showed relatively large aneurismal dilations, 25.5% showed atypical vessel deformations, and 22.5% showed dense clusters of numerous small hyperfluorescent dots.

The incidence of PCV in Korean exudative AMD patients was relatively high compared with that in other ethnic groups. As in other Asian patient populations, PCV occurred more commonly in men and was predominantly unilateral.