Clinical characteristics of peripheral exudative hemorrhagic chorioretinopathy in a referral center in Spain

OBJECTIVE:To publish the clinical characteristics of peripheral exudative hemorrhagic chorioretinopathy (PHEC) in the Spanish population. METHODS:Retrospective study and analysis of results in patients diagnosed with PHEC. The clinical characteristics, by OCT, the treatment used and the evolution after treatment were collected. RESULTS:39 eyes of 23 patients with PHEC were evaluated. The average age at diagnosis was 79 years (66-94 years). The main ocular symptom was low vision in 26 eyes (66.6%); only 11 eyes (28.2%) were asymptomatic. The most frequent referred diagnosis was bleeding/exudation in 24 eyes (61.5%), followed by choroidal melanoma in 9 (23.1%). Intra or subretinal hemorrhages were the type of peripheral lesion most frequently found, in 24 eyes (61.5%). Twenty-five eyes (58.9%) received some type of treatment: 15 eyes (60%) underwent intravitreal injection (IIV) of antiangiogenic agents (anti-VEGF); Laser photocoagulation was performed in 2 cases (8%), Photodynamic therapy in 2 cases (8%) and 6 cases (18.2%) required pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) due to vitreous hemorrhage. There were no changes in visual acuity (VA) in patients followed with observation between baseline 0.66±0.80 (0.04-2.82) and end of follow-up 0.75±0.96 (0.00-2.82) (P=.352), nor for those who received some type of treatment between the beginning 0.78±0.79 (0.04-2.30) and the end 1.22±1.01 (0.04-2.82) (P=.157), possibly due to the large component of atrophic or exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) presented in both groups. (29 eyes presented atrophic or exudative AMD) CONCLUSIONS: PHEC is a rare pathology, frequently associated with AMD, which typically presents as a peripheral mass that is frequently confused with choroidal melanoma and other intraocular tumors and hence the importance of learning to identify it, making the correct differential diagnosis and avoid unnecessary treatments. Antiangiogenic therapy is effective in most patients with an active phase (exudative/hemorrhagic) into leading to fibrosis of peripheral hemorrhagic areas.