title: Imaging polarimetry in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
abstract: Imaging polarimetry was used to examine different components of neovascular membranes in age-related macular degeneration. Retinal images were acquired with a scanning laser polarimeter. An innovative pseudocolor scale, based on cardinal directions of color, displayed two types of image information: relative phases and magnitudes of birefringence. Membranes had relative phase changes that did not correspond to anatomical structures in reflectance images. Further, membrane borders in depolarized light images had significantly higher contrasts than those in reflectance images. The retinal birefringence in neovascular membranes indicates optical activity consistent with molecular changes rather than merely geometrical changes.
authors: School of Optometry, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405, USA, and University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany. aeelsner@indiana.edu
authors: Ann E
authors: AE
authors: Elsner
authors: Anke
authors: A
authors: Weber
authors: Michael C
authors: MC
authors: Cheney
authors: Dean A
authors: DA
authors: VanNasdale
authors: Masahiro
authors: M
authors: Miura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization / Q000379:methods*; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015861:Retinal Neovascularization / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity