Abstract
Purpose :
To explore the prevalence and pattern of distribution of macular hemorrhage and exudate in macular neovascularization type 3 (MNV3), previously known as retinal angiomatous proliferation, and to find out whether they can be valuable diagnostic markers for MNV3 in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
Methods :
83 eyes of 83 consecutive treatment naïve patients with stage 3 MNV3 were enrolled. The diagnosis was based on fluorescein angiography (FA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Sub- and intraretinal hemorrhage and dense exudates were evaluated on color fundus photography. FA images and OCT scans were used to identify the axial location of the hemorrhage. 83 patients with MNV1 and 83 with MNV2 were included as two control groups.
Results :
In the MNV3 group 62 (75%) eyes had intraretinal hemorrhage and 52 (63%) had dense exudates. 73 (88%) eyes had intraretinal hemorrhage and/or dense exudates. 41 (49%) had both pathologies. The intraretinal hemorrhage was flame shaped over the lesion and punctate or semi-punctate further away from it and directed to the fovea. No subretinal hemorrhage was noticed. In the MNV1 and MNV2 groups 11 (13%) and 24 (29%) eyes had subretinal hemorrhage or dense exudates, respectively. No intraretinal hemorrhage was seen in the two control groups. The incidence of exudates and hemorrhage (irrespective of its location) was greater in MNV3 than in MNV1 or 2 (p<0.0001).
Conclusions :
The existence and pattern of distribution of intraretinal hemorrhage is pathognomonic of MNV3. It makes (alone or with dense exudates) the diagnose MNV3 possible using fundoscopy or color fundus photo and without further diagnostic expenditure.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.