Purpose: To evaluate patients with unilateral occult choroidal
neovascularization (CNV) secondary to age-related macular degeneration
(AMD) for the nature of the neovascularization which develops in the
fellow eyes.
Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed unilateral occult CNV were
followed prospectively for the development of CNV in the fellow eye.
Patients were classified based on the type of occult CNV in the first
eye: (1) those with associated serous pigment epithelial detachment
(serous FED) and (2) those without, Demographic and clinical data,
including the type of CNV in the second eyes, were compared.
Results: Choroidal neovascularization developed in 115 patients in the
second eye. Fifty-six patients had occult CNV with a serous FED (also
termed vascularized FED) in the first eye, and 59 patients had occult
CNV without serous FED. The two groups did not differ significantly in
the demographic and the clinical features evaluated. Well-delineated (or
classic) CNV developed in the fellow eye of one patient in each group.
Of the remaining 55 patients with vascularized FED in the first eye, the
same type of occult CNV developed in 48 (87%) patients in the second
eye. Of 58 (84%) patients in the second group, the same type of occult
CNV developed in the second eye of 49 patients. This symmetric
distribution of type of CNV between eyes is highly significant (P <
0.001).
Conclusions. Eyes with occult CNV secondary to AMD can be classified by
the presence or absence of an associated serous FED. Patients with
unilateral occult CNV have a significant risk of occult CNV developing
in the second eye, and the type of occult disease in the first eye is
highly predictive of the type of neovascularized disease in the second
eye. These findings are important with respect to natural history, and
possibly to the treatment response and visual prognosis of patients with
neovascularized AMD
