Author: Federico Fantaguzzi (Italy)
Co-authors: Riccardo Sacconi, Marco Battista, Enrico Borrelli, Siva Balasubramanian, Giuseppe Querques, Francesco Bandello
Purpose
To investigate the choroidal vascular index (CVI) among different cohorts of dry age-related macular degeneration (dAMD) compared to healthy subjects.
Setting/Venue
This is a retrospective study of patients enrolled in Medical Retina and Imaging Unit of the Department of Ophthalmology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy.
Methods
In this study, four distinct cohorts were collected: three cohorts with different dAMD phenotypes (i.e. drusen, reticular pseudodrusen [RPD], and geographic atrophy [GA] group) and an age-matched cohort of healthy subjects (controls). All patients were investigated using a multimodal imaging approach, including CVI in the subfoveal 1000μm area. CVI was defined as the ratio between the luminal choroidal area (LCA) and the total choroidal area (TCA).
Results
One hundred and twenty eyes (120 patients) were included (30 eyes in each cohort). The mean age was 76.6±7.1years, and the 4 cohorts of patients did not show statistical differences in terms of age population, axial length, and central macular thickness among study groups. TCA showed a different distribution among the 4 cohorts (p=0.003), mainly due to the changes of LCA (p=0.001). Interestingly, CVI showed a different distribution between the 4 cohorts (p<0.001). In detail, RPD showed a lower CVI in comparison to controls (p=0.040), whereas GA showed a lower CVI in comparison to drusen, RPD, and controls (p=0.001, p=0.046, and p<0.001, respectively).
Conlusions
Different cohorts of dAMD are characterized by different impairments of the choroidal vascular and stromal components (i.e. CVI), reflecting different degrees of AMD severity. CVI provides insights for better understanding the pathogenesis of AMD, and we anticipate a potential role in the prognosis of dAMD patients.
Financial Disclosure
GQ has the following disclosures: Alimera Sciences, Allergan Inc, Amgen, Bayer Shering-Pharma, Heidelberg, KBH, LEH Pharma, Lumithera, Novartis, Sandoz, Sifi, Sooft-Fidea, Zeiss. FB has the following disclosures: Alcon, Alimera Sciences, Allergan Inc, Farmila-Thea, Bayer Shering-Pharma, Bausch and Lomb, Genentech, Hoffmann-La-Roche, Novagali Pharma, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Thrombogenics, Zeiss. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
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