title: Classification of Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration With Pachyvessels on En Face Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to classify exudative maculopathy by the presence of pachyvessels on en face swept-source optical coherence tomography (SSOCT).
  
  
  
  Consecutive patients with signs of exudative maculopathy underwent SSOCT, fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), ultra-widefield fundus color photography, and autofluorescence examinations. Images were analyzed in a masked fashion by two sets of four examiners in different sessions: (1) the presence of pachyvessels in en face OCT and (2) features of exudative maculopathy in conventional imaging modalities. Quantitative data obtained were subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and choroidal vascularity index (CVI), which was the ratio of choroidal vessels lumen area to a specified choroidal area from binarized cross-sectional OCT scans.
  
  
  
  Pachyvessels was observed in 38 (52.1%) of 73 eyes. The pachyvessels group was associated with younger age (69.1 ± 9.4 years, odds ratio [OR] = 0.95, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.90-0.97, P = 0.04), presence of polypoidal lesions (OR = 3.27, 95% CI = 1.24-8.62, P = 0.01), increased SFCT (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.02-1.14, P < 0.01), and increased CVI (65.4 ± 5.3, OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.02-1.23, P = 0.01). In multivariate regression, CVI significantly correlated with pachyvessels (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.03-1.55, P = 0.04).
  
  
  
  Exudative maculopathy could be classified based on differences in choroidal vasculature morphology. Current results implied that choroidal hemodynamics may be relevant to variable natural history and treatment response in neovascular AMD and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Danny Siu-Chun
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Malini
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakthavatsalam
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Caritas Medical Centre, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Frank Hiu-Ping
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Carol Yim-Lui
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Medical Retina Service, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore 4Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Gemmy Chu-Ming
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Fang Yao
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Chi Wai
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Timothy Yuk-Yau
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Medical Retina Service, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore 4Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Tien Yin
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 5Department of Ophthalmology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Mårten Erik
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Brelén
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000473:pathology*; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis