Loculated fluid. A previously undescribed fluorescein angiographic finding in choroidal neovascularization associated with macular degeneration. Macular Photocoagulation Study Reading Center
N. M. Bressler, S. B. Bressler, J. Alexander, N. Javornik, S. L. Fine and R. P. Murphy
Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, Baltimore, Md.
The Foveal Photocoagulation Study, a component of the Macular
Photocoagulation Study, is designed to evaluate whether laser treatment can
reduce the risk of severe visual loss in eyes with well-defined choroidal
neovascular membranes associated with macular degeneration that extend
through the foveal center. On one third of the 554 baseline angiograms of
study patients enrolled in and whose eyes were graded in the study as of
January 31, 1990, the Reading Center staff has noted an unusual pattern of
hyperfluorescence in the late-transit frames that has not been described
previously. This pattern, which we call "loculated fluid," consists of a
well-demarcated area of hyperfluorescence that appears to represent pooling
of fluorescein in a compartmentalized space anterior to the choroidal
neovascular leakage. Although the loculated fluid may conform to a pattern
of typical cystoid macular edema, it can also pool within an area deep to
the sensory retina in a shape that does not bear any resemblance to cystoid
macular edema. This pattern is important to recognize because it (1) should
not be confused with the angiographic pattern or extent of choroidal
neovascularization and (2) should be differentiated from a serous
detachment or tear of the retinal pigment epithelium.
