[Idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: its extreme aspects in one patient--case report]

To describe a case of idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy and the role of indocyanine green angiography findings in the differential diagnosis of exudative maculopathies, particularly with age-related macular degeneration, and the extreme evolution of idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy in one patient. A patient with vitreous hemorrhage was examined and evaluated by fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies in the right eye and with hemorrhagic detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium in the left eye. The patient was treated by pars plana vitrectomy in the right eye which was followed by retinal detachment and vision loss. In the left eye an involution of the hemorrhagic detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium with preservation of the vision was seen. The idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy seems to be a distinct clinical entity that can and should be differentiated from age-related macular degeneration and the fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies should be performed to evaluate the choroidal vasculature in an attempt to establish a more definitive diagnosis. Particularly in this case the entity had an extreme clinical course in the patient.