Prevalence of reticular pseudodrusen in eyes with newly presenting neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
OBJECTIVE
To use multimodal imaging to evaluate the prevalence of reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) in eyes with newly presenting neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in a UK population and explore associations with RPD and angiographic subtypes of nAMD.


METHODS
A retrospective review of all spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, color fundus photographs, red-free and blue channel images, and fundus fluorescein angiograms of 202 consecutive patients who presented to a rapid access macular clinic over a 4-year period was performed. All images were graded by at least 2 ophthalmologists for the presence of RPD and choroidal neovascular membrane (CNV) subtypes.


RESULTS
A total of 231 consecutive eyes were studied, of which 131 (56.7%) were in women. Of these, 51 eyes with CNV (22.1%) had identifiable RPD, with one or more imaging methods in that eye. A total of 30.3% of patients with newly presenting CNV in either or both eyes had identifiable RPD. The RPD were bilateral in 85.4% of patients and were identified more commonly in women than men (72.5% vs 27.5%), a difference that reached statistical significance (p = 0.011). No association between RPD and any particular CNV subtype was demonstrated, including for retinal angiomatous proliferations (RAP).


CONCLUSIONS
Reticular pseudodrusen have a high prevalence in eyes presenting with nAMD (22.1%), although at rates much lower than that of conventional drusen. They are largely a bilateral finding, occurring more frequently in women. Unlike other previous reports, we found no difference in their occurrence between the different subtypes of CNV including RAPs.
Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, B Floor, EENT Centre, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham - UK.
Craig
C
Wilde
Ophthalmology, Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Derby - UK.
Moneesh
M
Patel
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham - UK.
Arun
A
Lakshmanan
Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, B Floor, EENT Centre, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham - UK.
Marco A
MA
Morales
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton-in-Ashfield - UK.
Sushma
S
Dhar-Munshi
Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, B Floor, EENT Centre, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham - UK.
Winfried M K
WM
Amoaku
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D010781:Photography; D015995:Prevalence; D015593:Retinal Drusen / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*