Correlation of choroidal subretinal neovascularization with fluorescein angiography

The presence and distribution of laser-induced experimental subretinal neovascularization were studied by serial reconstruction and correlated with the amount of fluorescein leakage during angiography. All laser lesions that demonstrated leakage and pooling of fluorescein (leaky lesions) contained subretinal vessels with an overlying fluid-filled space. The subretinal vessels extended beyond the area of demonstrated leakage, while the fluid-filled space overlying the subretinal vessels correlated closely with the demonstrated area of leakage. All leaky lesions gradually stopped leaking fluorescein, that is, involuted. The disappearance of leakage was not accompanied by a reduction in the number of subretinal vessels but rather with the disappearance of the overlying fluid. Further, 80% of the lesions that never leaked fluorescein (nonleaky lesions) also contained subretinal vessels but no overlying fluid. Our findings indicate that subretinal vessels can be detected by fluorescein angiography only if they lie beneath a fluid-filled space.