Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy with drusen.

Objective: To study the prevalence and clinical features of drusen in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

Methods: Retrospectively, we reviewed the records of 98 consecutive patients with PCV (102 eyes). Drusen were examined in the inner macula, which was defined as an area within 1500 microm of the center of the fovea. Eyes that had at least one intermediate or large (>or=63 microm) soft drusen within the inner macula were defined as having drusen.

Results: In these 102 eyes with PCV, 23 (23%) showed soft drusen in the inner macula. In such cases, the fellow eyes, those without a PCV lesion, sometimes also showed soft drusen in the inner macula (11 eyes); 34 (33%) of the eyes with PCV had soft drusen in the inner macula of at least one eye. Comparison of the group of eyes with PCV and drusen in one or both eyes with the group with PCV and no drusen in either eye revealed no significant difference in patient characteristics or in ocular manifestations.

Conclusions: Drusen are not an unusual feature of PCV, at least in Japanese patients, and, when present, they appear to have only a minor effect, if any, on the clinical course.