Autofluorescent hyperreflective foci on infrared autofluorescence adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy in central serous...

To test the hypothesis that hyperreflective foci in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) are autofluorescent and may represent macrophages that have engulfed outer retinal fluorophores from the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors.

Enrolled subjects underwent spectral domain and swept-source optical coherence tomography, adaptive optics flood-illumination, and adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO), including near-infrared autofluorescence (AO-IRAF). For the AO-IRAF imaging, retinal fluorophores were excited using 795 nm light and collected in an emission band from 814 to 850 nm.

In 2 of 3 eyes, a hyperautofluorescent signal was detected with an elliptical shape and punctate, granular aspects surrounded by a hypoautofluorescent halo. The size of these structures in the active case was measured to be 17 ± 4 μm in diameter, with at least 45 individual hyperautofluorescent foci identified from the AO-IRAF montage in the active stage of patient 2. In the asymptomatic case there were fewer structures visible (∼10) and their size was smaller (11 ± 4 μm). These hyper-AF foci were colocalized with hyperreflective foci on OCT and visible in simultaneously acquired confocal AOSLO images in active stage. The hyperautofluorescent foci in the patient with active CSCR disappeared coincident with clinical resolution.

We show here the first AO-IRAF images from patients with CSCR, demonstrating hyper-autofluorescent punctate foci, colocalized with hyper-reflective foci on confocal AOSLO images and in OCT. The autofluorescence of these foci may be driven by the accumulation of photoreceptor and RPE fluorophores within macrophages during the active stage of the disease.