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Choroidal neovascularization in highly myopic eyes after cataract surgery.

Hayashi K, Ohno-Matsui K, Futagami S, Ohno S, Tokoro T, Mochizuki M

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.

PURPOSE: To determine the incidence and characteristics of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with high myopia (>or=8 diopters) who underwent cataract surgery in the Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, or the Ohno Eye Clinic, Tokyo, between September 1991 and March 2000. METHODS: The medical records of 35 patients (48 eyes) who underwent cataract surgery with phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation were studied retrospectively. The development of CNV over a 4-year follow-up period, and its characteristics were determined. All of the eyes had received a comprehensive ophthalmological examination, including best-corrected visual acuity measurements, anterior segment biomicroscopy, and a dilated fundus examination by stereoscopic observation. RESULTS: CNV was found in six eyes (12.5%) of six patients. The mean interval between cataract surgery and the development of CNV was 34+/-17 months (range, 12-48 months). The CNV was subfoveal in all cases. The mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) after cataract surgery and before the appearance of CNV was 0.23+/-0.24, and 0.93+/-0.41 after the CNV appeared. This decrease was statistically significant (P=0.0008, paired Student t test). Subfoveal CNV developed more frequently in eyes when the fellow eye showed evidence of CNV preoperatively (40.0%) than in eyes when the fellow eye exhibited no evidence of CNV (9.3%). CONCLUSIONS: CNV developed in 12.5% of patients with high myopia after cataract surgery. CNV tended to develop more frequently when the fellow eye had CNV.

Published 9 August 2006 in Jpn J Ophthalmol, 50(4): 345-8.
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