Relationships between clinical measures of visual function, fluorescein angiographic and optical coherence tomography features in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationships between measures of vision, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) characteristics in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD).


METHODS
Retrospective case note review. Inclusion criteria were: confirmed diagnosis of new exudative AMD; recorded visual function using best corrected distance visual acuity (DVA), near visual acuity (NVA) and contrast sensitivity; corresponding FFA and OCT. FFA parameters included greatest linear diameter of lesion (GLD), area of choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) and area of leakage. OCT parameters included maximum retinal thickness (Ret(max)), central foveal thickness, maximum thickness of the CNV (CNV(max)), and the distances from the foveal depression to Ret(max) and CNV(max).


RESULTS
74 patients were included in this study. Correlations were highly statistically significant for both NVA and contrast sensitivity with GLD, CNV area and leakage (p<0.01 for all combinations). With DVA, modest statistically significant correlations were seen with CNV area and GLD (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant correlation between CNV leakage and the distance of CNV(max) to the fovea (p<0.05). The relationships between the measures of vision and OCT parameters were weak and did not reach significance. Regression analysis showed that the combination of Ret(max), GLD, and CNV(max) to fovea had the highest coefficient (r2 = 0.27).


CONCLUSIONS
OCT measurements by themselves are not robust markers for visual function.
Moutray
T
T
Directorate of Ophthalmology, Head and Skeletal Division, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Alarbi
M
M
Mahon
G
G
Stevenson
M
M
Chakravarthy
U
U
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014792:Visual Acuity