SUMMARY

The authors analyzed 18 patients (20 eyes) with a peculiar and rare presentation of CSC, present in 3.24% of 549 reviewed cases, characterized by a turbid subretinal fluid, with the purpose of analyzing the clinical features, and the retinal and angiofluoresceinographic findings. These data were compared with a control group.

They concluded: 1) This peculiar presentation of CSC has similar clinical characteristics incidence in young adults median age: 38.5 ys.; predominance in males (89%), and in white race (94.5%); 2) The patients presented with initial visual acuity significantly inferior (P= 0.0003), but this finding did not affect final visual acuity, that was similar between the two groups (P=0.0960); 3) The size of the detachment of the sensorial retina was statistically larger (P=0.0213) and associated with an also larger size of leakage of the RPE (P=0.001). These data suggest that the larger the extension of degenerated RPE, the larger is the free diffusion zone of protein and macromolecules and, therefore, more intense the degree of turbidy of the subretinal fluid; 4) there was no statistical difference in relation to RPE detachment (P=0.3006) ar about pigmentary alterations outside the area of serous detachment (P=0.7469); 5) good therapeutic response after photocoagulation with green argon laser.

The authors discuss the physiopathologic hypothesis to the formation of the turbid subretinal fluid, based on the these data. They describe the association between turbid subretinal fluid and others clinical variants of CSC, as bullous retinal detachment and RPE atrophic tracts.