Purpose: To describe the occurrence and treatment outcomes of double retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) tears in neovascular age-related macular degeneration and to elucidate the mechanism of tear development by means of multimodal imaging analysis.
Methods: Fundus autofluorescence, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography, and indocyanine green angiography were retrospectively studied before and after the occurrence of first and second RPE tears and at the final visit.
Results: Twelve eyes of 10 patients that developed double RPE tears, either simultaneously (6 eyes) or at variable intervals after repeated intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor administration (6 eyes), were included. First RPE tears developed after a mean of 4.5 ± 2.7 anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections; second RPE tears developed after a mean of 7.1 ± 5.2 anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections. Mean best-corrected visual acuity was 20/63 at baseline evaluation, 20/76 after occurrence of first tear, 20/90 after occurrence of second tear, and 20/95 at final visit (P > 0.05 for all). Multimodal imaging revealed in all cases a Type 1 neovascular lesion adherent to the posterior surface of the RPE and spanning a significant portion of the pigment epithelium detachment with variable orientation; after development of double tears, the RPE seemed retracted on both borders of the neovascular network.
Conclusion: Double RPE tears may occur on opposite sides of a vascularized pigment epithelium detachment, in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, because of neovascular contraction of a Type 1 neovascular complex, adherent to the posterior surface of the RPE and spanning a significant portion of the pigment epithelium detachment area.