Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate vascular structure of the choriocapillaris in the fellow eyes of neovascular age related macular degeneration (nAMD) on the images of swept source OCT angiography (SS-OCTA) by using open source software.
Methods :
Sixteen fellow eyes of 16 patients with nAMD (nAMD group) and 16 eyes of age matched normal eyes (control group) were examined. The mean age of the patients was 73 years (64-85). 3 x 3 mm square OCTA images were taken by using SS-OCTA (PLEX Elite 9000, Carl Zeiss Meditec, USA). The segmented images of the choriocapillaris layer (29-49µm from RPE) were analyzed. The vascular density of the choriocapillaris (VD-CC) was measured by using AngioTool (National Cancer Institute). We also measured subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) imaged by spectral domain OCT (Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Germany).
Results :
The mean VD-CC in nAMD group (44.7±1.09%) was significantly smaller than that in the control group (45.6±1.03%) (p=0.03, paired t-test). On the other hand, SFCT in nAMD group (244±98µm) was not different significantly from that in the control group (243±73µm) (p=0.97, paired t-test). There was no correlation between VD-CC and SFCT (R^2 = 0.003, P = 0.779).
Conclusions :
In nAMD patients, blood flow density of the choriocapillaris in the fellow eyes may decrease compared to that in the eyes without nAMD. Choroidal thickness may not reflect blood flow density of the choriocapillaris. SS-OCTA images was suitable for evaluation of the choriocapillaris.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.