Photodynamic therapy of subretinal neovascularization in the monkey eye
H. Miller and B. Miller
Department of Ophthalmology, Rambam Medical Center, Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa.
Experimental subretinal neovascularization in the monkey eye was treated by
photodynamic therapy with rose bengal. Following intravenous injection of
rose bengal, the subretinal vessels were irradiated with filtered light.
Successful treatment was achieved, provided the subretinal vessels were
irradiated during the period in which the dye was present in and around the
subretinal vessels but had already cleared from the retinal vasculature.
The successfully treated lesions demonstrated replacement of the leaking
and pooling subretinal vessels with a non-leaky scar. Morphologic
evaluation revealed immediate destruction of the subretinal plexus, with
minimal damage to the overlying retina. The destroyed subretinal tuft was
replaced by a scar containing mainly fibroblasts embedded in collagen
fibers. Our results suggest that photodynamic therapy is potentially useful
for destruction of subretinal vessels without damaging the overlying
retina.
