Materials and Method: Forty-five patients with exudative AMD who were candidate for PDT were enrolled in the study. Main outcome measures were visual acuity, lesion size on fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and central foveal thickness on optical coherence tomography (OCT), and the quality of life scores by using NEI-VFQ 25.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 72.2±7.1 years. The mean follow-up duration was 9.1±4.5 months. The visual acuity was maintained within +3 lines in 71% of the patients. The treatment caused no significant change on the quality of life scores.
Conclusions: PDT was one of the most effective treatment strategies of exudative AMD before the era of vascular endothelial growth factor antibodies. PDT was found to be safe and effective in preservation of vision and in reducing the probability of severe vision loss due to exudative AMD, but it was found to be inadequate to provide an increase in vision, and in life quality.
Keywords : Macular Degeneration; Quality of Life; Photochemotherapy