Morphologic features of retina pigment epithelial around fluorescein leakage sites in acute central serous chorioretinopathy before and after laser coagulation

Abstract

Objective To observe the morphologic alterations of retina pigment epithelial around fluorescein leakage site using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in acute central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) before and after laser coagulation. Methods Twenty-four eyes of 24 consecutive patients with unilateral acute CSC who underwent laser photocoagulation (wave length: 561 nm, energy: 80 - 100 mW, spot diamteter: 100 μm, exposure time: 0.1 s) were enrolled in this retrospective study. The patients included 22 males and 2 females, with an average age of (39.2±7.2) years and an average duration of (1.1±0.6) months. The fluorescein leakage outside the foveal avascular zone and serous retinal detachment were found in all the eyes by fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA) and SD-OCT. Twenty-six leakage sites were observed in 24 eyes on FFA. There were 5 smoky leakage points (19.2%), 21 inky leakage points (80.8%). The retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layer at leakage points were scanned by SD-OCT before and at 2 weeks, 2 months after treatment. SD-OCT showed that the RPE abnormalities were detected at all of the fluorescein leakage points, including serous pigment epithelial detachment (PED) in 16 leakage points (64.5%), protruding RPE in 5 leakage points (19.5%), and irregular RPE in 5 leakage points (19.2%). The morphologic alterations of RPE around fluorescein leakage point before and after laser coagulation were observed. Results At 2 weeks after laser photocoagulation, PED existed in 7 leakage points (26.9%), protruding RPE in 3 leakage points (11.5%), and irregular RPE in 16 leakage points (61.5%). At 2 months after laser photocoagulation, protruding RPE existed in 3 leakage points (11.5%), and irregular RPE in 5 leakage points (19.2%), including RPE defect in 2 leakage points. And there were undetectable RPE abnormalities in other 16 leakage points (61.5%). Conclusions In acute CSC, SD-OCT shows that morphologic features of the RPE layer are changed, including PED, protruding RPE , irregular RPE around the leakage point. After laser photocoagulation the abnormalities of RPE can also be altered from PED to irregular RPE , and RPE defect is observed in restricted regions. Key words: Central serous chorioretinopathy/therapy; Laser coagulation; Tomography, optical coherence; Diagnostic imaging