Assessment of Macular Pigment Optical Density in Patients With Unilateral Wet Amd

Abstract

Purpose: : To evaluate the Macular Pigment Optical Density (MPOD) in patients with unilateral wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

Methods: : The MPOD of 34 patients (74,4 y (55-88)) with unilateral wet AMD was measured in their fellow eye that had the dry form of the disease. 35 age-matched subjects (71,5y (57-82)) without any signs of retinal disease and 33 patients (71,5 y (58-82)) with bilateral dry AMD were also measured for MPOD levels. None of the subjects was taking any carotenoid supplement. The QuantifEYETM - MPS 9000 (ZeaVision©) was used for the measurements, a device based on the psychophysical method of Heterochromatic Flicker Photometry (HFP). Generalized Linear Models were applied for statistical analysis of the data (SPSS 15.0).

Results: : Patients with unilateral wet AMD don’t seem to have less MPOD in their fellow eye, affected by the dry form of the disease, compared to individuals of the same age with normal retina (0,58 vs 0,5, p=0,08). The MPOD of these patients is significantly higher than patients with bilateral dry AMD (0,48, p=0,015). Moreover, women in our sample had slightly but significantly higher level of MPOD (0,55 vs 0,49, p=0,029).

Conclusions: : The fact that high risk patients with monocular wet AMD do not have decreased MPOD in their dry-AMD-eye compared to bilateral dry-AMD and normal individuals, questions the theory that lack of macular pigment may be implicated in wet AMD pathogenesis.

Keywords: macular pigment • age-related macular degeneration