Efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab combined with photodynamic therapy for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

To compare the efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with or without intravitreal bevacizumab injection for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy.

Retrospective, comparative, interventional case series.

We included 146 eyes of 146 patients with treatment-naïve polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy including the subfoveal region treated with PDT monotherapy or combined with intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Treatments were chosen according to the time period. For eyes that received combination therapy, bevacizumab (1.25 mg) was administrated 1 day before PDT. All eyes were followed up for at least 12 months. Ophthalmic evaluations, including measurement of the best-corrected visual acuity and optical coherence tomography, were performed at every visit. Indocyanine green angiography and fluorescein angiography were performed every 3 months.

Sixty-one eyes were treated with PDT combined with bevacizumab and 85 eyes were treated with PDT monotherapy. The mean best-corrected visual acuity was significantly better in the combined treatment group than in the monotherapy group at 3 months (P = .0016), 6 months (P = .028), 9 months (P = .038), and 12 months (P = .048). However, lesions resolved in 78.7% of eyes in the combined group and in 75.3% in the monotherapy group; the recurrence rates were 43.8% and 40.6%, respectively, and did not differ significantly. The rate of development of subretinal hemorrhage within 1 month from the initial treatment was significantly lower in the combined group than in the PDT monotherapy group (4.5% vs 17.7%; P = .023).

Photodynamic therapy combined with bevacizumab injection offers significantly better early visual outcomes than PDT alone. Combined treatment did not affect the resolution and recurrence of lesions; however, it decreased the rate of development of PDT-related hemorrhages.