Leon von der Emde1, Sarah Thiele1,2, Maximilian Pfau1,2, Jennifer Nadal3, Johanna Meyer1, Philipp T Möller1,2, Matthias Schmid3, Monika Fleckenstein1,2,4, Frank G Holz1,2, Steffen Schmitz-Valckenberg5,6,7. 1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 2. GRADE Reading Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 3. Institute for Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 4. John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. 5. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, steffen.schmitz-valckenberg@ukbonn.de. 6. GRADE Reading Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, steffen.schmitz-valckenberg@ukbonn.de. 7. John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, steffen.schmitz-valckenberg@ukbonn.de.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Based on exudative activity, choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can be classified as "active" aCNV, pretherapied "silent" sCNV (i.e., a treatment-free interval >12 weeks), or treatment-naïve "quiescent" qCNV. We evaluated the qualitative and quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) features of these CNV subgroups. METHODS: The presence of small-caliber vessels, peripheral arcades, and a -perilesional OCTA signal attenuation as well as values for vessel length, density, and branching index were evaluated for each CNV network in a 6 × 6 mm OCTA scan pattern. RESULTS: Fifty-one eyes of 51 patients with AMD (age 75.9 ± 7.5 years; 20 males [39.2%]) were included. The qCNV subgroup (n = 8) showed the highest prevalence of qualitative and quantitative values for OCTA activity criteria, reaching significance with regard to small-caliber vessels (p = 0.003), peripheral arcades (p = 0.039), vessel length (p = 0.020), and branching index (p < 0.001) when compared to the aCNV (n = 32) and sCNV (n = 11) subgroups. Qualitative criteria were inversely associated with the number of previous anti-VEGF injections (each p < 0.03), while quantitative metrics also suggested lower values. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that OCTA may be supportive in the phenotypical differentiation of CNV lesions secondary to AMD, while the assessed structural changes appeared to be more indicative of previously administered anti-VEGF therapy than current exudative activity.
PURPOSE: Based on exudative activity, choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can be classified as "active" aCNV, pretherapied "silent" sCNV (i.e., a treatment-free interval >12 weeks), or treatment-naïve "quiescent" qCNV. We evaluated the qualitative and quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) features of these CNV subgroups. METHODS: The presence of small-caliber vessels, peripheral arcades, and a -perilesional OCTA signal attenuation as well as values for vessel length, density, and branching index were evaluated for each CNV network in a 6 × 6 mm OCTA scan pattern. RESULTS: Fifty-one eyes of 51 patients with AMD (age 75.9 ± 7.5 years; 20 males [39.2%]) were included. The qCNV subgroup (n = 8) showed the highest prevalence of qualitative and quantitative values for OCTA activity criteria, reaching significance with regard to small-caliber vessels (p = 0.003), peripheral arcades (p = 0.039), vessel length (p = 0.020), and branching index (p < 0.001) when compared to the aCNV (n = 32) and sCNV (n = 11) subgroups. Qualitative criteria were inversely associated with the number of previous anti-VEGF injections (each p < 0.03), while quantitative metrics also suggested lower values. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that OCTA may be supportive in the phenotypical differentiation of CNV lesions secondary to AMD, while the assessed structural changes appeared to be more indicative of previously administered anti-VEGF therapy than current exudative activity.
Authors: Mengxi Shen; Qinqin Zhang; Jin Yang; Hao Zhou; Zhongdi Chu; Xiao Zhou; William Feuer; Xiaoshuang Jiang; Yingying Shi; Luis de Sisternes; Mary K Durbin; Ruikang K Wang; Giovanni Gregori; Philip J Rosenfeld Journal: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci Date: 2021-05-03 Impact factor: 4.799
Authors: Johanna H Meyer; Janine Marx; Claudine Strack; Frank G Holz; Steffen Schmitz-Valckenberg Journal: Transl Vis Sci Technol Date: 2020-06-25 Impact factor: 3.283