title: Characterization of neovascular age-related macular degeneration patients with outer retinal tubulations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the neovascular lesions of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and outer retinal tubulations (ORTs).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study of 377 eyes with exudative AMD, submitted to intravitreal anti-angiogenic treatment. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the presence or absence of ORTs on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT; group 1 - with ORTs; group 2 - without ORTs). Age, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fluorescein angiography characteristics, presence of subretinal fibrosis and subfoveal photoreceptor integrity on SD-OCT were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although both groups had a BCVA gain during the follow-up period, initial and final BCVA were lower in group 1 (p = 0.020 and p = 0.042, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in the BCVA variation between the 2 groups (p = 0.907). Regarding the initial angiographic lesion type, there was a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (p = 0.008): group 1 had more lesions with a classic component and group 2 had more occult lesions with no classic component. There was a statistically significant difference concerning the loss of subfoveal photoreceptor integrity (p = 0.0007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though AMD patients with ORTs were associated with poor visual outcomes, we reported BCVA improvement. AMD patients with a classical component in their lesions are prone to develop ORTs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital São João, Porto, Portugal. f.faria.correia@gmail.com
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Faria-Correia
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barros-Pereira
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Queirós-Mendanha
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Falcão
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brandão
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falcão-Reis
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Carneiro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005122:Exudates and Transudates; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D058449:Intravitreal Injections; D008297:Male; D055351:Retinal Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors