Factors influencing visual acuity in patients with active polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy and imaging parameters changes

Abstract

Abstract We performed a retrospective, observational study for 51 eyes of 51 treatment-naive patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), whose lesion ranged within the 6x6mm scope of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Patients were divided into two groups based on the pattern of branching vascular network (BVN) on OCTA: ill-defined group and well-defined group. BVN morphology was not related to baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). But the improvement of BCVA had a significant positive relationship with the pattern of BVN on OCTA (r = 0.306, p = 0.031). The BCVA in the ill-defined BVN group (-0.18 [interquartile range: -0.40 to 0.00]) was significantly improved after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections, compared with that (0.00 [interquartile range: -0.18 to 0.00]) in the well-defined group (z = 2.143, p = 0.032). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that male sex, smaller number of injections, and presence of polypoidal lesions on OCTA images at baseline predicted a poor prognosis of polypoidal lesions on OCTA images after anti-VEGF therapy (all p < 0.05). Finally, BCVA at baseline and the number of injections were protective factors for BCVA after anti- VEGF therapy (all p < 0.05). In contrast, history of hypertension and macular edema at baseline were risk factors for BCVA after anti-VEGF injections (all p < 0.05).