Abstract
Purpose: :
To assess the effect of lens opacity on the signal strength of optical coherence tomography (OCT) readings in patients with age-related macular degeneration.
Methods: :
We reviewed charts of consecutive 100 eyes of 100 patients with age-related macular degeneration who underwent OCT imaging. Data collection included gender, age, visual acuity, phakic and pseudophakic status and signal strength reported on OCT reading. The degree of lens opacity recorded by evaluating physicians was converted such that value of 0=pseudophakia, 0.5=trace nuclear sclerosis (NS), 1=1+NS, 1.5=1-2+NS, 2=2+NS, 2.5=2-3+NS, 3=3+NS, 3.5=3-4+NS, and 4=4+NS.
Results: :
There were 70 females and 30 males. 48 were right eyes and 52 were left eyes. Mean age of these 100 patients was 78.9 years old (range: 56-92). Mean visual acuity was 20/114 (range:20/20-1/200). There were 46 pseudopahkic eyes and 54 phakic eyes. The following are the incidence of lens opacities: trace NS (0.5) = 6, 1+NS (1) = 13, 1-2+ NS (1.5) = 7, 2+NS (2) = 22, 2-3+ NS (2.5) = 4, 3+ NS (3) = 1, 3-4+NS (3.5) = 1, 4+NS (4) = 0. Mean signal strength among all eyes was 5.44+/-1.67 (range: 0-9). Signal strength was less than 7 in 73%. Mean signal strength among pseudophakics was 5.67. Mean signal strength among phakics was 5.24. Signal strength among pseudophakic eyes and phakic eyes was not statistically different (p=0.196). Among phakics, the degree of nuclear sclerosis did not affect the signal strength (p=0.575). However, a trend of lower signal strength was observed for eyes with 3+ NS or greater nuclear sclerosis.
Keywords: imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • macula/fovea • cataract