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Indocyanine green angiographic findings of Dalen-Fuchs nodules in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to analyze indocyanine green (ICG) angiographic findings of Dalen-Fuchs nodules in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease.

Methods

ICG angiograms of 15 patients (30 eyes) with Dalen-Fuchs nodules in VKH disease of between 2 months and 5 years after the initial diagnosis were retrospectively studied. Findings of ICG angiography were compared with features of fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA).

Results

Dalen-Fuchs nodules were easily found in the inferior (30 eyes, 100%) and temporal periphery (22 eyes, 73%) and showed two kinds of fluorescence in ICG angiography. In ten patients (20 eyes), the nodules showed small round hypofluorescent dark dots in the whole process of angiography, and the dark dots were larger in size than the nodules in FFA. Disease course in these patients was relatively long—between 1 year and 5 years. On clinical examination, the nodules were atrophic, and hyperpigmentation was found around them. In another five patients (ten eyes), parts of the nodules showed small hyperfluorescent dots in the early phase, but they were faint in the intermediate phase and became large, hypofluorescent dark dots in the late phase. Disease course in these patients was between 2 and 8 months. The nodules were bright yellow, fresh, and much larger than those in the first kind of ICG fluorescence.

Conclusions

Dalen-Fuchs nodules in VKH are mostly present in the inferior and temporal periphery. The two kinds of fluorescence of Dalen-Fuchs in ICG angiography may reflect obliteration of choriocapillaris under the nodules and different quantities of lipofuscin in the nodules at different time points of the disease.

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Acknowledgement

This study was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30271669) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant no. 04009333).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, 54 Xianlie Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Weiju Wu, Feng Wen, Shizhou Huang, Guangwei Luo & Dezheng Wu

Authors
  1. Weiju Wu
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  2. Feng Wen
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  3. Shizhou Huang
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  4. Guangwei Luo
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  5. Dezheng Wu
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Correspondence to Feng Wen.

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Wu, W., Wen, F., Huang, S. et al. Indocyanine green angiographic findings of Dalen-Fuchs nodules in Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 245, 937–940 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-006-0511-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-006-0511-3

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