Fundus autofluorescence and age-related macular degeneration☆
Section snippets
Patients and methods
The patients in this study were examined in the author’s practice. Each patient underwent distance visual acuity measurement, general ophthalmic examination, including slit-lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, and fundus photography, using the methods described. The amount of nuclear sclerosis was evaluated from 0 to 4+. The patients also had fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography as indicated to help establish the diagnosis of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) as
Results
A total of 54 patients was imaged with all modalities; in 18 there was no exudative AMD in the fellow eye (group 1), in 18 there was exudative AMD with no retinal vascular contribution (group 2), and 18 had exudative AMD with retinal vascular contribution (group 3). The mean age of all patients was 75.4 years (standard deviation, 7.7 years), and there was no difference in the mean ages of the groups (P = 0.16, one-way analysis). The Pearson correlation coefficient for the association between
Discussion
This study found, using a fundus camera based system, that the autofluorescence in the fellow eyes of patients with exudative AMD had larger amounts of autofluorescence than did the eyes of patients without a history of exudative AMD. The fellow eyes of patients with retinal vascular contribution to the vascular proliferation of exudative AMD were much more likely to have focal areas of intense autofluorescence that corresponded for the most part with focal areas of hyperpigmentation best seen
References (27)
- et al.
Fluorophores of the human retinal pigment epitheliumseparation and spectral characterization
Exp Eye Res
(1988) - et al.
Lipofuscin accumulation in cultured retinal pigment epithelial cells causes enhanced sensitivity to blue light irradiation
Free Radic Biol Med
(1997) - et al.
Age-related macular degeneration. The lipofuscin component N-retinyl-N-retinylidene ethanolamine detaches proapoptotic proteins from mitochondria and induces apoptosis in mammalian retinal pigment epithelial cells
J Biol Chem
(2000) - et al.
Infrared imaging of sub-retinal structures in the human ocular fundus
Vis Res
(1996) - et al.
Digital angiography of experimental choroidal melanomas using benzoporphyrin derivative
Am J Ophthalmol
(1997) - et al.
Retinal choroidal anastomoses and occult choroidal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration
Ophthalmology
(2000) - et al.
Deep retinal vascular anomalous complexes in advanced age-related macular degeneration
Ophthalmology
(1996) - et al.
Lipid hydroperoxide stimulates subretinal choroidal neovascularization in the rabbit
Exp Eye Res
(2002) - et al.
In vivo quantitation of autofluorescence in human retinal pigment epithelium
Ophthalmologica
(1989) - et al.
In vivo fluorescence of the ocular fundus exhibits retinal pigment epithelium lipofuscin characteristics
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
(1995)
Distribution of fundus autofluorescence with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope
Br J Ophthalmol
Fundus autofluorescence in age-related macular disease imaged with a laser scanning ophthalmoscope
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
Imaging of retinal autofluorescence in patients with age-related macular degeneration
Retina
Cited by (0)
- ☆
Manuscript no. 210607.
Supported by The Macula Foundation, Inc., New York, New York.
The author has no financial interest in any aspect of this study.