Vitreomacular interface in typical exudative age-related macular degeneration and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

To investigate the association in Japanese between posterior vitreous attachment and the pathologies of typical age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), 2 major forms of exudative AMD.

Retrospective observational case series.

A total of 378 eyes from 302 subjects (132 with typical AMD, 126 with PCV, 120 controls) from the University of Tokyo Hospital.

Posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) and vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) were investigated by B-mode ultrasonography and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), respectively. The greatest linear dimension (GLD) of initial photodynamic therapy (PDT) in a subset of the patients (n=92) receiving PDT was also investigated.

Number of eyes with complete PVD and with VMA. The GLD of initial PDT.

In typical AMD eyes, the frequency of complete PVD was significantly lower (63 [56.8%] of 111 eyes) than in the controls (52 [70.3%] of 74 eyes, risk ratio [RR] 0.76, P=0.021) and the frequency of VMA tended to be higher (14/115 [12.2%] in typical AMD eyes and 6/86 [7.0%] in the controls, RR 2.15, P=0.099). The frequency of complete PVD [77 [63.1%] of the 122 eyes] and VMA (9/108 [8.3%]) in PCV eyes was the same as the controls (RR 0.91, P=0.415 and RR 1.29, P=0.615). In patients with unilateral exudative AMD, the frequency of complete PVD was lower in typical AMD eyes than in fellow eyes (odds ratio [OR] 0.111, P=0.026) and VMA was observed in 7 (17.5%) and 3 (7.5%) typical AMD and fellow eyes, respectively (OR 2.33, P=0.34), whereas in PCV eyes, the frequency of complete PVD was higher (OR 8.00, P=0.045) and the frequency of VMA was the same as in the fellow eyes (OR 0.80, P=1.00). The GLD of the eyes without complete PVD or with VMA was significantly larger than that in the eyes with complete PVD in typical AMD eyes (P=0.042) and the same as that in the eyes with complete PVD in PCV eyes (P=0.67).

There is an association between posterior vitreous attachment and typical AMD. However, this association is not evident in PCV.