Abstract
Purpose: :
To measure areas of different pathologies in the different layers of the retina in untreated subfoveal CNV-patients and find possible correlations to the BCVA-results. Detection of VA-relevant changes in Spectral Domain (SD)- OCT caused by treatment-naïve subfoveal CNV.
Methods: :
A total of 35 eyes of 35 patients with treatment-naïve CNV were included. BCVA at baseline, measured in total letters was compared to the findings in SD-OCT-images (Spectralis® by Heidelberg engineering). Each cross-sectional image of a defined data set was graded for following pathologies: External limiting membrane (ELM) disrupted, inner segment - outer segment boundary (IS/OS) disrupted, subretinal fluid (SRF) present, Pigment Epithelium Detachment (PED) present, drusen present. Within the OCT-toolkit v1.5 program, it is possible to manually segment areas on each cross sectional image scan (B-scan). The program calculates the total area of each pathology (in mm²), which is then displayed on the en-face fundus-image.
Results: :
Disrupted ELM area correlated significantly (R = 0,361, p = 0,033) with BCVA. However, the areas investigated for the other pathological findings (IS/OS disrupted, presence of SRF, PED and drusen) did not significantly correlate with the BCVA-results. The integrity of the ELM itself correlated significantly with the intactness of the IS/OS (R = 0,641 , p = 0,000), the presence of SRF(R = 0,621 , p = 0,000) and drusen (R = 0,500, p = 0,002).
Conclusions: :
The integrity of the ELM seems to be an important marker for visual function in subfoveal CNV-patients. Further studies have to be conducted to confirm these results.
Keywords: visual acuity • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • imaging/image analysis: non-clinical