Materials and Methods: A retrospective, case series consisting of subfoveal occult CNV associated with ARMD patients whose visual acuities (VA) between counting fingers from 1 meters to 0.5 are presented in this study. TTT was applied using modified infrared diode laser at 810 nm with an adjustable spot size ranging between 1.0-4.0 mm. An activity score (AS) was calculated for each lesion before treatment and at each follow-up visit by using changes in the lesion size, amount of hemorrhage, staining pattern in FFA and optic coherence tomographic (OCT) measurement of intra/subretinal fluid. All of the cases were followed with VA and AS obtained from FFA and OCT findings at first visit and three months apart. Pre and post treatment AS and lesion areas were compared with paired-t test.

Results: 50 eyes of 43 patients who met the criterias were included the study. The mean age of the patients was 69.0±9.0 years (range; 32 to 80 years) and the mean follow-up time was 17±4.4 months (range; 10 to 26 months). The mean AS before the treatment was 6.02±1.03 (range; 5-8) which significantly decreased to 4.82±1.42 (range; 3-7) (p=0,002). At 10th month; 62% of the eyes were stable (within one line) in VA (+/-1 line). 28% of the eyes gained two or more lines, 38% of the eyes gained one or more lines, 10% of the eyes lost two or more lines. Severe vision loss (decrease of three or more lines) was seen in 8% of the eyes. Before the treatment, the mean lesion area was 6.05±4.4 mm² (range; 0.68-16 mm²), which decreased to 5.94±4.4 mm² (range; 0.52-15.96 mm²) after the treatment (p=0.005).

Conclusion: TTT seems to be an effective alternative therapy in stabilizing the lesion size, clinical activity and visual acuity in eyes with occult CNV associated with ARMD. Keywords : Transpupillary thermotherapy, age related macular degeneration, occult subfoveal choroidal neovascularization