Quantitative deep vascular complex analysis of different AMD stages on optical coherence tomography angiography

Abstract

Aims: To investigate alterations in deep retinal vascular complex (DVC) in patients with non-neovascular intermediate AMD (iAMD), treatment-naïve quiescent macular neovascularization (qMNV), exudative AMD (eAMD) by means of OCT angiography (OCTA). Methods: Patients with iAMD, qMNV, eAMD and healthy controls presenting in the Department of Ophthalmology of the Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil between January 2016 and January 2018, were retrospectively included. 3 × 3-mm OCTA (AngioVue RTVue XR Avanti) perfusion density (PD) of DVC was computed in all groups at baseline and follow up (12.0 ± 1.1 months). Results: A total of 46 eyes of 45 patients were enrolled: 11/46 iAMD, 10/46 qMNV, 13/46 eAMD, 12/46 control eyes. PD showed a significant decrease during follow-up in qMNV ( p = 0.0059) and iAMD ( p = 0.0076) eyes. PD in eAMD and healthy controls didn’t show significant changes. Conclusion: PD decreases at the level of DVC in eyes with qMNV and iAMD, while in eAMD eyes, PD is stable throughout follow up, suggesting that repeated anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections do not impact on the DVC PD.