The first effective
therapy for exudative
macular degeneration (AMD) was
Photodynamic Therapy (
PDT). Diagnosis of the disease was to a large extent by
fluorescein angiography (FA). Distinguishing between the leaky choroidal neovessels (CNV) associated with exudative AMD, and the polypoidal structures associated with
Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy (PCV) is not always easy using FA alone. The switch to
Indocyanine Green angiography helped to pinpoint PCV, and thus to study the efficacy of
photodynamic therapy of this particular form of
retinal disease, which is more frequently encountered among pigmented individuals. The results appear to be quite promising, and in the year following treatment only a small fraction of the patients had to be retreated. Alternatively, treating PCV with repeated intravitreal
VEGF blocking agents was not as successful as it was in the treatment of wet AMD. However, combining
PDT-induced angio-occlusion of the polypoidal lesions with anti-
vascular endothelial growth factor therapy was shown to be quite effective, and the combination of
PDT with an anti-angiogenic agent as well as a
steroid, in a triple
therapy, was recently also shown to be a quite promising option. In the present article we review the data on
PDT of PCV, including combination
therapies and alternative treatments. We also report on similarities and differences between AMD and PCV.