Spectrum of choroidal neovascularisation associated with dome-shaped macula

To investigate the clinical spectrum of choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) in patients with dome-shaped macula with the aid of multimodal imaging.

In this cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study, we reviewed charts and imaging studies of 144 eyes of 79 consecutive patients with dome-shaped macula evaluated at a tertiary referral centre, including optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). Three masked graders evaluated the prevalence and type of CNV. Primary outcome measures were the diagnostic agreement between OCTA and FA±ICGA, the multimodal imaging characteristics and prevalence of CNV associated with dome-shaped macula.

We identified 30 eyes with dome-shaped macula complicated by CNV with an estimated prevalence of 20.8% (95% CI 14.2 to 27.4). Twenty-two eyes (73%) showed a type 2 CNV while eight eyes (27%) showed a type 1 CNV. Serous macular detachment was present in 39 eyes (27%) and harboured a CNV in five cases (13%). The overall diagnostic agreement between OCTA and FA±ICGA was excellent (k=0.894, p<0.001), but only the use of both techniques allowed the identification of the whole pool of CNVs.

Eyes with dome-shaped macula may either develop typical myopic CNV (ie, type 2 CNV) or pachychoroid-associated CNV (ie, type 1 CNV), similar to those observed in central serous chorioretinopathy. Accordingly, in case of serous macular detachment complicating dome-shaped macula, the presence of an associated CNV should be considered. When suspecting a CNV associated with dome-shaped macula, the application of both OCTA and FA±ICGA is superior to the use of one technique alone.