Photodynamic Therapy – Safe Treatment For Chronic CSC

Researchers discovered that one application of half-dose photodynamic therapy (PDT) targeting the fovea helped treat patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) structurally and functionally, and they did not experience foveal atrophy. To ascertain the impact of this therapeutic approach, the study team conducted a retrospective analysis of data from patients with chronic CSC who had participated in the prospective, randomized PLACE and SPECTRA trials.

A single half-dose PTD with a treatment spot that included the fovea was administered to 57 individuals with chronic CSC. At baseline and several visits after therapy, optical coherence tomography scans and fundus autofluorescence images were examined for structural improvement and potential atrophic development. The integrity of the external limiting membrane and ellipsoid zone on optical coherence tomography and hypoautofluorescence on fundus autofluorescence was the primary outcome indicators, according to researchers.

Imaging showed that the subfoveal external limiting membrane was continuous in 21 (36.8%) of 57 patients at baseline, and the subfoveal ellipsoid zone was continuous in 5 (8.8%) of 57 patients at the first visit; these improved, respectively, to 50 (98.0%) of 51 and 32 (62.7%) of 51 at the final visit at two years (p < 0.001 for both comparisons). 

The authors concluded that the structure and function of the patients with chronic CSC who received one fovea-involving, half-dose photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment had significantly improved at the time of the final follow-up and that no patients had developed foveal atrophy.

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