The relationship between myopic choroidal neovascularization activity and perforating scleral vessels in high myopia.

PURPOSE To study perforating scleral vessels (PSV) in patients with high myopia with swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and to determine their relationship with myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) and its activity. METHODS Retrospective analysis of patients with high myopia (≥ -6 D or ≥ 26 mm of axial length) using multimodal imaging. The presence of PSVs and mCNV was assessed using SS-OCT images (TRITON, Topcon Corporation, Japan). RESULTS 564 eyes from 297 highly myopic patients were studied. 155 eyes showed signs of mCNV (27.5 %) while PSVs were found in 500 eyes (88.6%). PSVs were found in 93.5% (145/155) of eyes with mCNV and they were under or in contact with the mCNV in 80.6 % (117/145). The mean number of intravitreal injections (IVI) received by mCNV patients was 4.06±4.17 along 66.9±4.1 months of follow-up. The number of injections per year was 1.32±1.56, the mean number of relapses was 1.11±1.83 and the mean number of relapses/year was 0.25±0.41. CONCLUSIONS PSVs are more common among highly myopic patients suffering from neovascular complications. Myopic CNV complexes that are coincident with PSVs on OCT show higher rates of activity, needing more injections to control them and being more prone to relapses in time.