Photodynamic therapy versus thermal laser photocoagulation for the treatment of recurrent choroidal neovascularization due to AMD

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of thermal laser photocoagulation (TLP) to that of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of recurrent choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Patients and methods: We prospectively studied 38 patients (40 eyes) with AMD presented with recurrent CNV after TLP. The study eyes were assigned to one of the two groups according to their treatment (repetition of TLP or PDT). PDT was performed according to the standard protocol. The follow-up time ranged from 9 months to 9 years.

Results: The mean best-corrected visual acuity (VA) was statistically significantly lower compared to that of the baseline in both groups of the study. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to the stabilization, improvement or decline of the best-corrected VA.

Conclusion: According to our results TLP and PDT are equally ineffective for the treatment of recurrent CNV in patients with AMD.