En face swept-source optical coherence tomography in neovascular age-related macular degeneration

To describe en face swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) findings in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid and to correlate them with fluorescein angiography (FA) and/or indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Thirty-eight eyes with the recent diagnosis of neovascular AMD were imaged using an SS-OCT system. En face images were obtained at RPE, choriocapillaris, Sattler's layer and Haller's layer level. Analysis of the images and correlation with colour fundus photographs, FA, ICGA in selected cases, were made.

En face images at RPE level revealed changes in all eyes. The neovascular complex appeared hyper-reflective in 9 of 38 eyes (23.7%), and in 29 of 38 eyes (76.3%), it was hyporeflective. The choriocapillaris en face image showed pathological changes in all eyes as well, and in 20 out of 38 eyes (52.6%), the alterations were hyper-reflective, while 18 of 38 eyes (47.4%) showed hyporeflective changes. Twenty (52.6%) eyes and 19 (50.0%) had a hyper-reflective lesion in Sattler's layer and Haller's layer, respectively, and 15 (39.4%) cases showed a hyporeflective lesion in both layers. No differences were found between the neovascular complex area, horizontal and vertical diameters, measured in the en face image and FA (p=0.171, p=0.061, p=0.133, respectively). Hyporeflective changes were predominant at RPE level and hyper-reflective at choriocapillaris, Sattler's and Haller's layers.

En face SS-OCT is a rapid, non-invasive, high-resolution, promising technology, which allows a complementary study to angiography of neovascular AMD. There is a correlation between angiography and en face SS-OCT images in neovascular AMD.