Abstract
Purpose::
To investigate a prevailing feeder vessel’s site of growth inside macular area in patients with neovascular membrane and evaluation of possible choroidal and angiographycal features associated.
Methods::
Dynamic indocyanine green angiographyof 62 eyes with subfoveal choroidal neovascular membrane obtained using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (Heidelberg HRA, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany), was aligned and corrected for eye movements.Two trained observers evaluated each movie to identify the original position of the feeder vessel origin. The macular region was divided in 4 portions : supero-nasal, infero-nasal, supero-temporal and infero-temporal.Choroidal feeling delay and choroidal size abnormalities were also recorded.Choroidal feeling delay was defined as a filling of the choroid which appears after the retinal vein filling.Choroidal dilation was evaluated comparing the choroidal vessel of the fellow eye in patients without neovascular lesions, using images taken at the same time.
Results::
Feeder vessel origin was distributed as follow: supero-nasal in 12 eyes (19,4%), infero-nasal in 20 eyes (32,3%), supero-temporal in 13 eyes (20,97%), infero-temporal in 13 eyes (20,97%). Two eyes had a peripapillary origin and 2 subfoveal.Choroidal feeling delay was observed in 55,93%of cases. Choroidal dilatations were observed in 64,4%.
Conclusions::
These data suggest that there is a preferential growth site for CNV-FV inside macular area which correspond to the area of the watershed zone or to the area of filling defects. This seems to confirm the idea that most of the choroidal neovascular membranes are located in choroidal zones more susceptible to ischemia.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • choroid: neovascularization • macula/fovea