Peripheral autofluorescence findings in age-related macular degeneration

To describe the peripheral autofluorescent findings in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using ultrawide-field imaging.

We retrospectively reviewed the ultra-wide-field autofluorescent images of all patients diagnosed with AMD or macular drusen at the Department of Ophthalmology of Weill Cornell Medical College from July 2010 to September 2011. Peripheral autofluorescent phenotypes included normal autofluorescence, focal pinpoint hyperfluorescence, granular fluorescent changes, patchy hypofluorescence, and reticular hypofluorescence.

One hundred and ten consecutive patients (220 eyes) with a diagnosis of AMD or macular drusen were imaged using ultra-wide-field autofluorescent technology during the study period. Eighty-three patients (157 eyes) were included in the final analysis. Peripheral autofluorescent abnormalities were present in 63.6% of eyes with AMD versus 35.7% of control eyes (p=0.049). Granular fluorescent changes (p=0.0001) and patchy hypofluorescence (p=0.0015) were more common in eyes with advanced AMD than in eyes with early AMD or control eyes. Granular fluorescent changes were also more common in eyes with choroidal neovascularization (p=0.026) or geographic atrophy (p=0.0001). Patchy hypofluorescence (0.0001) was more common in eyes with geographic atrophy.

Peripheral autofluorescent abnormalities are common in eyes with AMD. The peripheral findings in eyes with AMD may represent different phenotypes, which may indicate different environmental or genetic factors in the development of AMD. Characterizing the different peripheral phenotypes may have implications for diagnosis and treatment of AMD subtypes.