The evaluation of the early and intermediate age-related macular degeneration with optical coherence tomography angiography

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate superficial and deep retinal vessels, foveal avascular zone in patients affected by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to find whether any association between features on retinal vessel density and stage of AMD.Materials and Methods: Ninety-four patients enrolled in the study. Patients were divided according to AMD stages. Grade 1, no AMD; grade 2, early AMD; grade 3, intermediate AMD; grade 4 geographic atrophy (GA); and Grade 5, choroidal neovascularization (CNVM). All patients underwent an ophthalmologic evaluation, including optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). The main outcome measures were superficial vessel density, deep vessel density, foveal avascular zone (FAZ).Results: In grade 3 AMD eyes; the deep vessel density values were lower than grade 1 and grade 2 eyes. The fellow eyes of the patients with CNVM, the deep vessel density values were lower in grade 3 eyes than grade 1 and 2 eyes, the other parameters were not statistically different. The fellow eyes of the patients with grade 3, the vessel density, FAZ, AI did not show significant difference.Conclusion: Changes in retinal capillary vessel density, which can be detected with OCTA, begin at the intermediate stage AMD.