Twenty-five patients were recruited for this study. Written informed consent was obtained from the subjects after explanation of the nature and possible consequences of the study prior to enrollment. The research adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was obtained prospectively from the Institutional Review Board “The Ethical Commission of Vienna.”
All patients (17 female and 8 male Caucasians; mean age 77.5 years; range, 58–91 years) were thoroughly examined, including best-corrected visual acuity (measured using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study [ETDRS] chart), fundus autofluorescence (FAF) and infrared (IR) imaging, commercial high-definition OCT at approximately 800-nm wavelength (Cirrus; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA), and fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography (angiography only when clinically indicated based on ethical issues). They were included if at least one eye was diagnosed with AMD, and RPD were seen on scanning laser ophthalmoscope imaging with infrared or FAF, with a definite RPD appearance of deposits above the RPE on the 800-nm OCT in corresponding locations. Only eyes with AMD lesions such as medium to large drusen (five or more), geographic atrophy (GA), or CNV in the fovea or within the foveal rim were included. Reticular pseudodrusen was defined as a regular network of uniform round or oval irregularities with a diameter ranging between 50 and 400 μm, corresponding to hypofluorescent spots (with a hyperfluorescent halo) on FAF imaging. On IR images, RPD were identified as a pattern-like grouping of ill-defined lesions with a decreased reflectivity. Exclusion criteria included myopia > 6 diopters, history of glaucoma, any cause of media opacities resulting in impaired visualization of the macula, hereditary diseases, polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy or secondary CNV due to pathologic myopia (≥2 diopters, spherical equivalent), angioid streaks, inflammatory or infectious chorioretinal disease, serious trauma, diabetic retinopathy, and systemic acute inflammatory or infectious disease.
All patients enrolled in the present study were classified according to the clinical and, if available, also angiographic findings (non-CNV AMD; AMD including predominantly classic CNV, minimal classic CNV, occult CNV, and retinal angiomatous proliferation).
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