INDOCYANINE-GREEN ANGIOGRAPHY IN PATIENTS WITH OCCULT CHOROIDAL NEOVASCULARIZATION

Several studies have stressed the role of indocyanine-green (ICG) angi ography in patients with occult choroidal neovascularization (O-CNV) s econdary to age-related maculopathy (ARM). The present study was under taken to evaluate the percentage of eyes that could be converted from O-CNV without suffering pigment epithelial detachment (FED) in well-de fined CNV using ICG angiography with a scanning laser system. A total of 112 patients with ARM and O-CNV without FED were included in this p rospective study. All patients underwent ICG angiography with a scanni ng laser system. The early phase (first 3 min) of the ICG angiogram wa s analyzed for the presence of a neovascular network, whereas focal or irregular hyperfluorescence was noted in the late phase. The early ph ase of the ICG angiograms revealed in 62 (55%) eyes a well-defined CNV . In 55 of these eyes, late irregular hyperfluorescent and hypofluores cent zones were observed. Another 27 eyes presented with focal hyperfl uorescent areas in the late-phase studies without having shown a well- demarcated area of neovascularization in the early phase of the ICG an giogram. This study confirms that ICG angiography is an important adju nctive method to fluorescein angiography. In more than 50% of eyes wit h O-CNV the ICG angiograms obtained with a scanning laser ophthalmosco pe enable the visualization of a neovascular network in the early phas e.