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Case Reports in Medicine
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 897097, 10 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/897097
Verteporfin Photodynamic Therapy Combined with Intravitreal Ranibizumab for Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy Controversy Concerning Long-Term Followup
1Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, Ramon Baltar S/N, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
2Instituto Oftalmológico Gómez-Ulla, Avenida de las Burgas 2, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Received 6 August 2012; Accepted 5 September 2012
Academic Editor: Marco A. Zarbin
Copyright © 2012 Maribel Fernández et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Purpose. To show the long-term results of intravitreal ranibizumab combined with photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). Methods. We analyzed the progress of two patients for 36 and 58 months, respectively. We only used PDT for the treatment in the area of the active PCV or “hot spot” evident on the indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). The spot size was chosen so as to cover only the active neovascular lesion. We combined intravitreal ranibizumab with PDT when PCV remained active without visible polyps in ICGA or without a response to PDT. Conclusion. Administration, as required, of verteporfin photodynamic therapy combined with intravitreal ranibizumab is an effective treatment for symptomatic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. These data need to be confirmed in large, prospective, and controlled clinical trials which are randomized and carried out over a long period.