Photodynamic therapy for choroidal neovascularization in young adult patients

We report our experience with photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in young adult patients. This was a retrospective study of young adults with CNV treated with PDT. Data collected included age, diagnosis, type and size of CNV, number of treatments, visual outcome, and side effects. Ten patients (11 eyes) were included in the study (mean age 27.2 +/- 13.3 years). Etiologies included multifocal choroiditis (3 eyes), idiopathic CNV (5 eyes), central serous chorioretinopathy (1 eye), and toxoplasma (2 eye). The mean number of treatments was 2 +/- 0.7 and the mean follow-up time was 13.1 +/- 9.5 months. Initial visual acuity (VA) ranged from 20/25 to 20/1,200 (mean logMAR 0.6 +/- 0.5), and improved to 20/20 to 20/250 (mean logMAR 0.46 +/- 0.4) (P = 0.51). Of the four eyes that received additional treatment with oral steroids, one of which also received intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) injections, all had visual acuity improvement of 2 or more lines, while only two of seven eyes that received PDT alone showed such improvement. PDT can improve visual outcome in a subgroup of young patients with subfoveal CNV especially when supplemented with oral steroid and bevacizumab injections.