Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is a retinal disorder characterized
by aneurismal polypoidal lesions in choroidal vasculature. PCV appears to
preferentially affect pigmented individuals and is considerably high among Asians.
Most reports on patterns of PCV around Asia are based on a homogenous race
(e.g. Chinese, Japanese) and very few descriptions from a multiracial population
like those seen in Malaysia. The present study aimed to describe the demographic
features, clinical and investigative characteristics of PCV in a multiracial group at
Universiti Kebangsaaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Ninety one eyes of 86
PCV patients, comprising of Chinese (65.1%), Malays (31.4%), Indians (2.3%) and
Eurasian (1.2%) were retrospectively reviewed. All underwent complete ophthalmic
examination and investigations. Mean patient age was 70.4 years with a male
preponderance (59.3%), and mostly unilateral presentation (94.1%). The logMAR
mean presenting visual acuity was 0.78 ± 0.64. Polypoidal vascular lesions were
located generally within the macula area (86.8%), manifesting mainly as submacular
hemorrhage (59.3%). Interestingly a number of eyes (43.9%) had associated drusen.
Optical coherence tomography largely demonstrated exudative changes (75.9%)
and almost all patients (97.7%) had loss of external limiting membrane (ELM) and
IS/OS interface. On indocyanine green angiography, majority of eyes had multiple
polyps (82.4%) with ‘cluster’ (58.2%) being the commonest configuration. In
conclusion, although the patterns of PCV in UKMMC were mainly similar to other
Asian patients, a number of our patients had associated drusen. This indicates
that PCV in our population could be a variant of neovascular age related macular
degeneration and not solely idiopathic in nature.