[Tear in retinal pigment epithelium under anti-VEGF therapy for exudative age-related macular degeneration : function...

This article reports the case of a 72-year-old woman with pigment epithelial detachment with occult choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which developed under anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy of a tear in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). In the area of free RPE autofluorescence was completely absent and the microperimetry in this area showed an absolute scotoma. The visual acuity was 0.1. After continuation of anti-VEGF therapy because of persistent subretinal and intraretinal fluid over 3 years an increased autofluorescence was observed and the microperimetry showed an increase in central retinal sensitivity. The central visual acuity improved to 0.5 and in this area a whitish subretinal tissue formed morphologically. In the spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) image this structure was hyperreflective which might suggest a certain regeneration process of the RPE under anti-VEGF-therapy.