The role of photodynamic therapy in retinal vascular disease

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin has significantly improved functional outcome in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in various clinical disorders [86]. While CNV due to age-related macular degeneration [4, 53, 76-80, 84] and pathologic myopia [83, 85] was the primary focus, several studies showed that the treatment effects of PDT were not only restricted to these two underlying disorders. Recently, several clinical studies observed PDT as a treatment modality of CNV due to ocular histoplasmosis syndrome [52, 55, 68], choroiditis [71, 89], angioid streaks [31, 37, 68], Stargardt's disease [81], symptomatic choroidal hemangioma [30, 61, 82] and other causes [15, 72]. While PDT has become an established treatment modality for various choroidal disorders, its role in the treatment of retinal diseases remains to be determined. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.