Clinical characteristics of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy in Chinese patients.

Purpose: To describe the clinical characteristics of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in a large number of Chinese patients. Methods: This study enrolled 204 consecutive patients (246 eyes) in our department who were diagnosed as having polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy PCV. Patients underwent ophthalmologic examinations including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) testing, ophthalmoscopy, fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and optic coherence tomography. Results: Mean patient age was 66.1 years and 60.3% were men. Of the cases, 79.4% were unilateral and 51.2% of BCVA was less than 35 letters. In 171 eyes (69.5%), polypoidal lesions were located in the macula area. Among them, polypoidal lesions were located in the foveal area in 29 eyes (11.8%), in the parafoveal area in 50 eyes (20.3%), and in the extrafoveal area in 88 eyes (35.8%), in both the foveal and parafoveal area in three eyes (1.2%), and in both the parafoveal and extrafoveal area in one eye (0.4%). In 37 eyes (15.0%), PCV lesions were under the temporal retinal vascular arcade; in 11 eyes (4.5%), PCV lesions were found peripapillary. PCV lesion formation was single in 88 eyes (35.8%), cluster in 145 eyes (59.0%), string in two eyes (0.8%), and branch in two eyes (0.8%). In nine eyes (3.6%), the formation of PCV lesions showed both single and cluster shape in the same eye. There were 54.5% with drusen, 44.7% with serous PED, 20.7% with hemorrhagic PED, and 39.0% with neuroretinal detachment. Conclusions: The majority of Chinese PCV patients were male, unilateral, and showed macular polyps. Drusen, serous PED, hemorrhagic PED, and neuroretinal detachment on OCT were commonly seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]