Investigation of precursor lesions of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy using contralateral eye findings

The purpose was to investigate precursor lesions of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

This cross-sectional study involved 276 unaffected contralateral eyes from unilateral PCV patients (Group 1), unilateral typical exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients (Group 2), and unilateral epiretinal membrane patients (Group 3) as age-matched controls. Grayish-yellow sub-retinal or sub-retinal-pigment-epithelial deposits larger than 63 μm in size with irregular but discrete margins were defined as drusen-like deposits (DLDs). The frequencies of DLDs, drusen, and pigmentary changes in each group were compared.

DLDs larger than 125 μm in size were found more frequently in Group 1 (19.5 %) than in Groups 2 (3.4 %) and 3 (3.2 %) (p < 0.001). Soft drusen were discovered more frequently in Group 2 eyes than in Groups 1 and 3 (p < 0.001). Pigmentary changes were found more frequently in Groups 1 and 2 compared to Group 3. Compared with the other groups, Group 1 manifested a higher frequency of choroidal vascular hyperpermeability (p < 0.005) and thicker choroid (p < 0.001).

The precursor lesions of PCV are different from those of exudative AMD. DLDs larger than 125 μm and pigmentary changes may be early preclinical markers of PCV. Long-term longitudinal studies are warranted for validation.