Relationship between the second reflective band on optical coherence tomography and multifocal electroretinography in age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE: The second hyper-reflective on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has been suggested to correlate with the photoreceptor inner segment ellipsoids (ISe). The purpose of our study was to determine the relationship between the intensity of the ISe band and retinal function measured by multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) in patients with early age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
METHODS: A high-resolution horizontal line scan through the fovea on SD-OCT and an mfERG recording were performed in one eye of 29 early AMD and 31 control participants. The relative intensity of the ISe band within 1000 μm of the fovea was quantified using ImageJ. The relationships between the relative intensity of the ISe band and the mfERG response parameters (P1 amplitude and implicit time) within the three central hexagons along the horizontal axis were determined.
RESULTS: In normal participants, the relative intensity of the ISe band was significantly correlated with age (r = -0.634, P < 0.001) and also exhibited a topographic variation. On average, the relative intensity of the ISe band was significantly lower in patients with early AMD (1.77 ± 0.26) compared to control subjects (1.95 ± 0.27, P < 0.001) of a similar age range. The relative intensity of the ISe band was correlated significantly with the mfERG P1 implicit time (r = -0.745, P < 0.001), but not P1 amplitude (r = 0.144, P = 0.281).
CONCLUSIONS: The relative intensity of the ISe band reduced with age and further in early AMD. The relative intensity was significantly correlated with mfERG P1 implicit time.