Late side-effects of radiotherapy for subfoveal choroidal neovascularization

Radiation therapy for subfoveal neovascularization has not yet proved its efficiency, but, to our knowledge, no exudative complication of this treatment has been reported. We describe a late side effect observed in 16 eyes after a mean follow up of 33 months, characterized by major extension and exudation of the choroidal new vessels. In several cases, development of elongated, club like new vessels was observed at the border of the neovascular membrane. At the end of the follow-up, 4 eyes had an exudative retinal detachment affecting half of the retina or more and visual acuity wasor = 1/50 in 94% of the cases (including a case with no light perception and 2 cases with only light perception).