Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate the risk of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD)in patients with or without retinal cystic change and determine the differences in retinal and choroidal structural parameters between two groups
Methods :
A retrospective chart review of patients presenting to a tertiary referral center with GA at baseline due to dry AMD. Demographics, VA, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), fluorescein angiography (FA), and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images were collected. The incidence of progression to choroidal neovascularization was assessed. LogMar of visual acuity, percentage of foveal involvement of GA, choroidal vascularity index (CVI), sub-foveal choroidal thickness, choriocapillaris thickness, Haller-Sattler layer thickness and central macular thickness were measured at the presentation and last follow up visit.
Results :
Forty eyes from thirty-one patients (mean age, 77.8±8.2 years [SD], 29.9 % male) were followed for an average of 57.45±33.9 months. Retinal cysts were found in 15 eyes at baseline, of which zero showed leakage on FA. No eyes with retinal cystic change developed choroidal neovascularization (CNV) during follow up, but one patient in control group formed CNV. Eyes with cysts had logMAR BCVA of 0.433± 0.317 (Snellen 20/70) and 0.700± 0.373 (Snellen 20/145) at baseline and last follow-up, respectively. Eyes without cysts had logMAR BCVA of 0.436± 0.409 (Snellen 20/80) and 0.715± 0.385 (Snellen 20/145) at baseline and last follow-up, respectively. The presence of retinal cysts did not affect baseline (p=0.980) or final (p=0.903) visual acuity.
CVI in eyes with retinal cysts were 63.17±5.6 and 59.84±5.24 at baseline and last follow-up, respectively (p=0.0414) and in eyes without cyst were 65.27±5.00 and 60.67± 5.72 at baseline and last follow-up, respectively (p <0.0001). The rate of CVI decrease was not significantly different between groups (p=0.85).
Conclusions :
GA with retinal cysts did not differ from GA without cysts in terms of progression to CNV. Choroidal and retinal thickness in each group change significantly during the follow up, but we did not find any statistically significant difference between groups. Consequently, these cysts are not related to CNV and they are pseudocysts without any effect on GA progression.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.