Spontaneous resolution of retinal angiomatous proliferation

To describe a case of spontaneous resolution of retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP) in a patient with age-related macular degeneration.

A 67-year-old woman complained about progressive visual loss in the right eye. Visual acuity was 20/50 in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. Detailed ophthalmoscopic examination, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography of the right eye were performed.

Fundus examination of the right eye revealed a small extrafoveal hemorrhage with a few hard exudates around a serous retinal elevation. Fluorescein angiography showed late-phase staining with an area of hyperfluorescence interpreted as occult neovascularization. The middle-phase indocyanine green angiograms showed a focal "hot spot" with late intraretinal leakage. Optical coherence tomography performed through the hot spot shown by indocyanine green angiography demonstrated a localized area of increased intraretinal reflectivity and subfoveal optically empty areas corresponding to serous retinal detachment. The patient was diagnosed with stage II RAP. Treatment was recommended, but the patient was lost to follow-up. Five months later, the patient returned to our department with visual acuity of 20/30 in the involved eye. Spontaneous resolution of the angiographic leakage shown by both fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography and restoration of the normal retinal layers by optical coherence tomography were observed.

To our knowledge, this is the first known case in which angiographic and optical coherence tomography findings depicted the spontaneous regression of RAP.