Correlation between serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor and subfoveal choroidal thickness in patients with POEMS syndrome

The study was conducted to determine whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels are significantly correlated with subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT) and foveal thickness (FT) in patients with polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal gammopathy, and skin changes (POEMS) syndrome. In this cross-sectional observational case series, we studied 31 eyes of 16 treatment-na < ve patients with POEMS syndrome with no evidence of fundus abnormalities. Subfoveal CT and FT were measured using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT), and correlations between serum VEGF levels and subfoveal CT and FT were determined. The mean subfoveal CT was 417.9 +/- 73.5 mu m (right eye, 416.7 +/- 81.2 mu m; left eye, 419.0 +/- 68.1 mu m), and the mean FT was 243.8 +/- 35.2 mu m (right eye, 248.8 +/- 22.0 mu m; left eye, 239.1 +/- 44.6 mu m). There was a significant positive correlation between the serum VEGF level and subfoveal CT (right eye, r = 0.58, p = 0.021; left eye, r = 0.60, p = 0.012), but the correlation between the level of serum VEGF and FT was not significant (right eye, r = 0.007, p > 0.05; left eye, r = 0.25, p > 0.05). The significant correlation between the serum VEGF level and subfoveal CT in patients with POEMS syndrome suggests that choroidal thickness is influenced by the level of serum VEGF. These results not only aid in an understanding of the pathogenesis of ocular changes in patients with POEMS syndrome, but also offer clues regarding the pathogenesis of other choroidal diseases.