title: CORRELATION OF OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY AND MACULAR PIGMENT OPTICAL DENSITY MEASUREMENTS IN TYPE 2 IDIOPATHIC MACULAR TELANGIECTASIA.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Macular telangiectasia is associated with neurodegenerative changes including focal outer retinal atrophy and a loss of macular pigment (MP). We aimed to investigate whether an association between spectral domain optical coherence tomography neurodegenerative signs and MP abnormalities can be detected.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-seven eyes of 27 macular telangiectasia Type 2 patients (mean age 66.7 years, range 50-82 years, 12 male) were investigated. An MP pattern was recorded using a dual-wavelength autofluorescence method and classified according to severity (I-III). Outer plexiform, inner nuclear, and photoreceptor layer thickness values were measured in Spectralis spectral domain optical coherence tomography scans. Thickness values were compared with those of a control group of 14 healthy age-matched eyes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Macular pigment redistribution was found to be Class I in 11 eyes, Class II in 28 eyes, and Class III in 8 eyes. More advanced stages of MP loss were associated with a greater, statistically significant thinning of the outer plexiform and inner nuclear layer complex and photoreceptor layers (P ≤ 0.001). Lower absolute levels of MP were also associated with a thinning of the photoreceptor layer. Thinning was restricted to within the parafovea, more severe at temporal eccentricities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the hypothesis that in macular telangiectasia Type 2 cellular degenerative processes leading to a thinning of these layers also result in reduction and redistribution of MP.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Ophthalmology, St. Franziskus Hospital, Münster, Germany; †Department of Research and Development, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom; and ‡Department of Visual Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Meike B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Zeimer
authors.forename: Ferenc B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Sallo
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spital
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Heimes
authors.forename: Albrecht
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lommatzsch
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pauleikhoff
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003720:Densitometry; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D065348:Macular Pigment / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061848:Optical Imaging; D058456:Retinal Telangiectasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
chemical_list: D065348:Macular Pigment