Background: The aim of this study was to determine whether pretreatment spectral-domain optical coherence tomographic (SD-OCT) features are associated with visual prognosis after treatment for idiopathic subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (ISCNV) with intravitreal ranibizumab. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated SD-OCT images of eyes with ISCNV undergoing treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab with a mean follow-up of 7 months. Results: This study included 22 patients (22 eyes) with a mean age of 32.7 +/- 8.1 years. In univariate analysis, better final visual acuity expressed in logMAR units was significantly associated with a lower amount of pretreatment ellipsoid zone defects (p = 0.03; standardized correlation coefficient beta = 0.46) and a lower amount of pretreatment external limiting membrane (ELM) damage (p = 0.007; beta = 0.56). All other SD-OCT parameters were not significantly associated with final visual acuity. A higher improvement in visual acuity was marginally significantly associated with larger pretreatment ellipsoid zone defects (p = 0.049; alpha = -0.43). Conclusions: The integrity of the outer retinal layers at baseline, in particular of the ELM, is of importance in predicting the final visual outcome in patients undergoing intravitreal medical therapy for ISCNV. (C) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel