Optical coherence tomography angiography and traditional multimodal fundus imaging in the diagnosis and activity evaluation of choroidal neovascularization in exudative age-related macular degeneration

Abstract

Objective To compare the consistency and difference of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and traditional multimodal fundus imaging in the diagnosis and activity evaluation of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods A total of 112 exudative AMD patients (130 eyes) were included in this retrospective study, 62 were men (71 eyes) and 50 were women (59 eyes). The mean age was (68.250±9.789) years (range 50–91 years). All patients were underwent traditional multimodal fundus imaging including fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT); OCTA was performed at the same time. The CNV type was divided into active and non-active according to the results of traditional multimodal fundus imaging. The vascular pattern was divided into active and non-active according to the results of OCTA. Using traditional multimodal fundus imaging as the standard, the sensitivity and specialty of OCTA was evaluated. Results In 130 eyes, CNV was visualized on traditional multimodal fundus imaging in 109 eyes (83.8%); CNV was visualized on OCTA in 103 eyes (79.2%), which including 7 eyes of false negative and 1 eye of false positive. The sensitivity of OCTA for CNV diagnosis was 93.6%, with specificity of 95.2%. The CNV detection rate between two methods had no significant difference (Youden index=0.89, Kappa value=0.796, P=0.07). In 109 eyes diagnosed with CNV by traditional multimodal fundus imaging, 73 eyes (67.0%) were active CNV and 36 eyes (33.0%) were non-active CNV; the vascular pattern was active in 60 eyes (55.0%) and non-active in 49 eyes (45.0%). The sensitivity of OCTA for the detection of active CNV was 82.2%, with specificity of 100.0%. The active CNV detection rate between two methods had no significant difference (Youden index=0.82, Kappa value=0.753, P=0.00). Conclusion In the diagnosis and activity evaluation of CNV in exudative AMD, there is remarkable consistency between OCTA and traditional multimodal fundus imaging. Key words: Choroidal neovascularization /diagnosis; Tomography, optical coherence; Fluorescein angiography; Indocyanine green/diagnostic use