CLINICAL COURSE AND PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN NONNEOVASCULAR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION WITH SUBRETINAL FLUID

To investigate the clinical course and prognostic factors of age-related macular degeneration without macular neovascularization (MNV) in patients presenting with pigment epithelial detachment (PED) and the associated subretinal fluid (SRF).

Morphological characteristics of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography images were analyzed to determine anatomic outcomes. Factors associated with the progression to late AMD, defined as complete retinal pigment epithelium and outer retinal atrophy (cRORA) or MNV, were investigated.

Fifty eyes of 41 patients were included in this study. The most common SRF location was the angle of the PED (56%), and there was a significant decrease in SRF thickness and PED height and width over the follow-up period. Eleven (22%) eyes developed cRORA, and seven (14%) eyes developed MNV during a mean period of 52.1 months. Multivariate analysis revealed that hyperreflective foci and MNV in the fellow eye were associated with the development of cRORA, and higher PED height was a significant factor associated with the development of MNV.

In patients with AMD, SRF can be accompanied by PED in the absence of MNV. Notably, patients with this characteristic entity can progress to late AMD, including cRORA and MNV, in a significant proportion of cases.