Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine whether oxygen saturation in retinal vessels of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is different from that of a healthy population.
Methods: :
The non-invasive retinal oximeter (Oxymap ehf., Reykjavik, Iceland) is based on a fundus camera. It simultaneously captures images of the retina at 570nm and 600nm and estimates retinal vessel oxygen saturation. Mean oxygen saturation was measured in retinal arterioles and venules in 20 patients with early AMD, 20 patients with untreated exudative AMD and 26 healthy controls. The age of AMD patients was 78±9 years (mean±SD) compared to 66±4 years for the healthy controls.
Conclusions: :
Oxygen saturation in venules in exudative AMD is higher than in healthy controls and there is a similar trend in early AMD. Arteriovenous difference is smaller in AMD patients than in a healthy population. The healthy controls were younger than the AMD patients and previously we have found that oxygen saturation in venules decreases with increasing age in healthy volunteers. Therefore, the age gap may in fact reduce the measured differences in oxygen saturation. The study suggests that retinal oxygen metabolism is affected in AMD.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • oxygen • imaging/image analysis: clinical