[Treatment of age-related subfoveal choroidal neovascularization by low-dose external radiation: a preliminary study]

We applied low dose external beam radiation (6 MV) to 17 eyes of 17 patients (Mean age 70.9 years, range 58 approximately 85) who had subfoveal choroidal neovascularization associated with age-related macular degeneration. None of the cases were suitable for photocoagulation according to the Macular Photocoagulation Study protocol, and no feeding vessels underlying choroidal neovascular membrane could be detected. Corrected visual acuity ranged from 0.02 to 0.6 before treatment. The patients were divided into two groups. One group of 11 eyes was treated with 10 Gy and the other group of 6 eyes with 21 Gy. Mean follow up period was 347 +/- 89 (mean +/- standard deviation) days in the 10 Gy group and 312 +/- 100 days in the 21 Gy group. We evaluated the outcome as "effective' if no progression in neovascular membrane was found by ophthalmoscopic and angiographic examination. Only 3 eyes (21%) of patients in the 10 Gy group and 2 eyes (33%) in 21 Gy group showed any effect. Although the rate of progression in choroidal neovascular membrane was significantly smaller in the 10 and 21 Gy group than in the controls, the corrected visual acuity in the treated group was not improved over that of the controls. No serious complications were seen. Only one case showed a stabilized neovascular membrane in the control group of 7 patients. Although the present results seem to be worse than those in previous reports, the efficacy of this treatment still needs to be evaluated because no beneficial strategies in the treatment of subfoveal neovascularization have been established.