Functional changes following combined intravitreal bevacizumab and photodynamic therapy for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

Abstract

To assess the functional changes of retina in patients affected by polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) after combined intravitreal bevacizumab and photodynamic therapy (PDT) by means of contrast sensitivity (CS) test and color vision test. Twelve eyes of 12 patients were included in the study. The CS and color vision were measured and compared before the combined treatment and 1, 3 and 6 months after the treatment. The patients had an improvement in CS over pre-treatment values at the all of the five spatial frequencies. And the differences at 1.5 cycle per degree (cpd) at 1 and 3 months after treatment (p = 0.04 and 0.007 respectively) were statistically significant. The mean square root of total error score for color vision of the FM 100-hue test decreased after treatment and the change was significant at 3 and 6 months after treatment (p < 0.001 and 0.011 respectively). Combined intravitreal bevacizumab and PDT can improve the CS at low spatial frequency and color vision in patients affected by PCV, although the significant increases of CS were no longer found at 6-month follow-up.