Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To evaluate filling times during fluorescein angiography in patients with age–related macular degeneration (AMD) and correlate with patient gender, age, and concurrent systemic disease. Methods: A retrospective study of patients with AMD who had undergone fluorescein angiography (FA) between 1998 and 2004 at the Yale Eye Center was conducted. Exclusion criteria were diabetes and HIV. FA arm–to–retina filling times were recorded. Filling times were verified with film and computer records. Factors evaluated included patient gender, age, and past medical history. Results: 139 patients were included in the study. There were 89 men and 50 women. A t–test revealed significant differences in filling time between men (mean (M) = 19.894 seconds, standard deviation (SD) = 4.9713) and women (M = 16.646 seconds, SD = 2.6448, p < .001). A significant Pearson product–moment correlation between filling time and patient age was observed (r = .208, p = .014). A t–test revealed no significant differences in filling time between the individuals with cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular disease (n = 33, M = 19.988, SD = 5.2540) and individuals without disease (n = 106, M = 18.333, SD = 4.2574, p = .068). A t–test revealed no significant differences in filling times between patients with neovascular (wet) AMD (n = 83, M = 18.288, SD = 4.1561) and nonneovascular (dry) AMD (n = 56, M = 19.375, SD = 5.0443, p = .168). Conclusions: Our study on patients with AMD demonstrates delayed retinal arterial filling compared with published norms for fluorescein angiography. We found significantly increased retinal arterial filling for men compared to women. This may represent higher rates of undiagnosed cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular disease in men. Filling time also increased significantly with increasing age. There was a trend of increased filling times in patients with cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular disease. While studies have suggested cardiovascular disease is a risk factor for progression of AMD, we did not find significantly increased retinal arterial filling time in patients with wet AMD as compared to those with the dry type. Additional study may reveal indications for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular workup.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • retina • blood supply