Teletherapy for subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation of age-related macular degeneration: results of follow up in a non-randomised study.

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AIM: A preliminary report indicated stable or improved vision in 12 of 19 patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation treated with 12 or 15 Gy of 6 MV photons to the affected macula after an average follow up of 18 months. Here the prolonged follow up findings in this group of treated patients is reported which was further increased to 41. METHODS: Forty one patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation were treated with 10, 12, or 15 Gy of 6 MV photons to the macula of the affected eye. Thirteen eyes of 12 patients were also observed as a non-randomised comparison group. RESULTS: At 12, 18, and 24 months of follow up the mean change in visual acuity in eyes treated with radiotherapy was less than 1 Bailey-Lovie line from that measured at presentation. By contrast, the eyes in the comparison group lost 3.7 lines of acuity at 12 months which increased to 4.5 at 24 months. These differences were highly significant at each of the time points. When initial visual acuity was taken into account, treated eyes lost on average 12% of baseline acuity throughout follow up, whereas eyes belonging to the untreated group lost 50% of baseline acuity at 1 year, and 75% at 2 years. There was no significant difference in visual outcome between the three dose regimens used, which may simply be a reflection of the small sample size in each group. There was no evidence of radiation induced retinopathy or optic neuropathy in any treated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Teletherapy appeared to have a treatment effect in eyes with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation resulting in maintained visual function without significant radiation induced morbidity.

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