COMPARISON OF MULTICOLOR IMAGING AND COLOR FUNDUS PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE DETECTION OF PATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN EYES WITH POLYPOIDAL CHOROIDAL VASCULOPATHY.

Purpose: To compare the appearance and frequency of detection of common features in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy using multicolor imaging (MC) or color fundus photography (CFP).

Methods: Thirty-eight eyes with indocyanine green angiography-proven polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, imaged with both MC and CFP, were graded by three independent retinal specialists. The presence of five prespecified pathological features (blood, exudation, polypoidal lesions, pigment epithelial detachments, and atrophy) was graded on each modality independently. Multimodal imaging including optical coherence tomography, fluorescein, and indocyanine green angiography was used as the gold standard.

Results: Overall, there was no statistically significant difference in the ability of MC imaging compared with CFP in detecting the pathological features. Polypoidal lesions appear as small, dark green, round lesions which have higher contrast on MC compared with a nodular orange appearance seen on CFP. Polypoidal lesions can be identified noninvasively using both MC and CFP in about half of the cases.

Conclusion: There are differences in the appearance of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy-associated features on MC compared with CFP. Both modalities are comparable for the detection of pathological features in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. MC imaging may be considered as an alternative to CFP.