Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

Abstract

Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is a disease reported by Yannuzzi et al. (1990) in 1990 and is now considered one of phenotypes of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). While exudative AMD is seen in approximately 5–10 % of western populations, various previous reports have confirmed that its prevalence is high in Asian countries including Japan (Ahuja et al. 2000; Byeon et al. 2008; Kwok et al. 2002; Maruko et al. 2007; Sho et al. 2003; Wen et al. 2004; Yannuzzi et al. 1999). According to our research, in which classification of AMD subtypes using fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography was conducted to 289 cases of patients with exudative AMD newly found in 2 years from 2003 to 2005, PCV, typical AMD, and retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP) were seen in 158 (54.7 %), 102 (35.3 %), and 13 (4.5 %) cases, respectively (Maruko et al. 2007). While our report is a hospital-based study, when considered in connection with other reports, it shows that approximately half of cases suspected of exudative AMD are most likely to be diagnosed as PCV; therefore, PCV can be considered as one of the most major subtypes rather than a special type of exudative AMD in Japan. Meanwhile, there are some combined cases in which patients have PCV in one eye and typical AMD in the other in our report, so they are figured as disease groups with clinical overlap even though they have different phenotypes (Maruko et al. 2007, 2010). Also, it is shown that there is no large difference of genetic background in development of PCV and exudative AMD (Kondo et al. 2007; Gotoh et al. 2009).