Gierek-Lapinska A., Rusek P., Filipecka I., Wykrota H., Gierek-Ciaciura S.

I Department of Ophthalmology and Eye Clinic, Silesian School of Medicine, Katowice, Poland

Aims: To determine if photodynamic therapy can reduce the vision loss in patients with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Participants: Fourty-two eyes of 33 patients with subfoveal, predominantly classic CNV lesions caused by AMD and best-corrected visual acuity of 5/50 to 5/8 were randomly assigned to photodynamic therapy with verteporfin-Visudyne from CIBA Vision (32 eyes) or 5% glucose as placebo (10 eyes).
Methods: Verteporfin and placebo were administered via intravenous infusion over 10 minutes. Fifteen minutes after the start of the infusion, a diode laser light at 689 nm (Opal Photoacitvator from Coherent) was delivered over 83 second. Visual acuity and fluorescein angiography were performed before and after the treatment at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. After six months follow-up retreatment was performed if there was any leakage on the fluorescein angiogram taken at the visit.
Results: The lost of visual acuity was significantly reduced in the verteporfin-treated eyes compared with controls during the one year (p<0.001). The growth of CNV was observed in 45% of the eyes after verteporfin compared with 73% of eyes after placebo.
Conclusions: One-year results show, that photodynamic therapy may by an effective method of treatment for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization caused by AMD.

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