Angiographic Characteristics of Acute Central Serous Chorioretinopathy in an Asian Population

Abstract

Introduction: Acute central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) afflicts young middle-aged males in the Western population. We aimed to analyse patient demographics and to determine the angiographic characteristics of acute CSCR in an Asian population. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all patients presenting with acute CSCR who had fundal fluorescein angiograms performed within a 4-year period (between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2001). Results: The fluorescein angiograms of 128 patients were analysed. The majority were male (109/128) with a male-to-female ratio of 5.7:1. The age range of patients was 26 to 60 years, with a mean age of 41 years. The majority of patients (84%) were aged 30 to 50 years. With regard to racial distribution, 83% were Chinese, 6% were Malays and 11% were Indians or of other races. Unilateral disease was found in 74 patients (58%) and 52 had bilateral disease. The macula was the most common site of fluorescein leakage and was found in 97 patients (76%). Almost half the patients (44%) had more than one site of disease involvement (i.e., multifocal). The inkblot leakage pattern was found in 103 patients (80%). Conclusions: The patient demographics of acute CSCR in our population were compared to that reported in the West. The gender ratio was similar, with males being afflicted 6 to 10 times more compared to females. There was no racial predilection found for acute CSCR in the local population. We also found a significant proportion of patients with bilateral and multifocal disease compared to the West. The inkblot pattern of leakage was the most common pattern seen on angiography. There were a significant number of cases with bilateral and multifocal involvement, exceeding those reported in non-Asian populations. Key words: Demography, Fluorescein angiography, Retinal diseases