Photodynamic therapy on chronic pathology during the post-COVID19 and worldwide shortage of verteporfin (Visudyne®) era.

Publication date: Jul 11, 2025

We analyze COVID19 pandemia and shortage of verteporfin (Visudyne(R)) consequences in photodynamic therapy (PDT) treated patients. A retrospective study was performed in 97 patients treated with PDT last 3 years. We used HALF DOSE PDT for chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (cCSCR) (n=84) and FULL DOSE for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) (n=13). We evaluated changes in visual acuity (VA) and resolution of subretinal fluid (SRF) by optical coherence tomography (OCT), assessing the number of retreatments. The mean referral delay time was 28. 5 +/- 6. 24 months. 53. 6% of cCSCR and 75% of PCV patients received previous treatments. An improvement in VA was observed in cCSCR patients after treatment, while PCV patients tends to stabilization. Patients with longer therapeutic delay (≥1 year) showed worse VA. Complete resolution of SRF was noted in 71. 4% of cCSCR and 83. 3% of PCV patients. The shorter the referral delay, the better the resolution rate (76. 9% < 1 year vs 61. 5% if ≥1 year). One third of patients required retreatment, superior if longer delay (26. 9% if

Concepts Keywords
Chorioretinopathy Central serous chorioretinopathy
Oct Multimodal retinal imaging
Pcv Pachychoroid
Photodynamic Photodynamic therapy
Retreatments Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy
Verteporfin shortage

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH COVID19
drug DRUGBANK Verteporfin
disease MESH central serous chorioretinopathy
disease MESH polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy
drug DRUGBANK Penciclovir
drug DRUGBANK Tropicamide

Original Article

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