Abstract
Purpose :
Soft drusen is large dome-shaped, hyaline granular deposits with poorly demarcated boundaries beneath the (Retinal Pigment Epithelium) RPE. This drusen increases the risk for advanced Age Macular Degeneration (AMD), which can result in vision loss. Soft drusen lifecycle includes growth, anterior migration of RPE atop drusen, followed by collapse, and atrophy. The aim of this study is to correlate the prevalence of soft drusen in histopathological sections of macular region, obtained from enucleated and eviscerated eyes.
Methods :
A total of 158 eyes from 158 patients were examined, from the MUHC – McGill University Ocular Pathology & Translational Research Laboratory, Montreal, Canada (2013-2019). Of the 158 eyes, 79 (50%) were enucleated and 79 (50%) were eviscerated. The specimens were considered for the study based on the following inclusion criteria: 1. patients over 50 years of age; 2. histopathologically preserved macular area; 3. presence of sufficient residual tissue for additional cuts; 4. identification by histological criteria of macular area; 5. concrete data of patients, such as age and diagnosis that led to enucleation or evisceration. Histopathological review was performed in digitalized H&E slides (Zeiss AxioScan.Z1) in all patients. Each case was assessed based on the presence of soft drusen and divided by age in decades in both eviscerated and enucleated eyes.
Results :
Histopathological analysis of soft drusen was possible in both groups. There was no difference in the frequency of soft drusen between enucleated and eviscerated eyes in patients aged 50 to 59 years [χ2(1)=0,046, p = 0,829], 60 to 69 years [χ2(1)=0,130, p = 0,719], 70 to 79 years [χ2(1)=0,142, p = 0,706] and ≥80 years [χ2(1)=0,027, p = 0,870]. The presence of soft drusen increased with age in eviscerated or enucleated patients that were submitted.
Conclusions :
The presence and characteristics of soft drusen could be analyzed in both enucleated and eviscerated eyes with similar results. It was possible to find soft drusen using the same histopathological criteria, both in enucleation and evisceration eyes. Prevalence of macular drusen from enucleated and eviscerated ocular specimens in patients over 50 years of age is comparable to the incidence of age-related macular degeneration in this population.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.