Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 7, 2026
Ex Vivo OCT-Based Multimodal Imaging of Human Donor Eyes for Research into Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Published on: May 26, 2023
Association between subretinal hyperreflective material and OCTA-derived macular neovascularization morphology in
Xianggui Zhang1, Yi Lin2, Jiaying Cheng1
1Department of Ophthalmology, General Hospital of Central Theater Command, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei Province, China.
Purpose:
To evaluate whether baseline subretinal hyperreflective material (SHRM) status is associated with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA)-derived macular neovascularization (MNV) vessel density, complexity, and ramification in treatment-naive neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).
Methods:
This retrospective, single-center, cross-sectional imaging study included 89 eyes from 89 treatment-naive patients with nAMD. One eye per patient was included to avoid inter-eye correlation. SHRM was assessed on baseline structural optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCTA images were acquired using 6 × 6 mm scans, and MNV lesions were manually delineated as regions of interest. The primary OCTA-derived parameters were MNV vessel density, fractal dimension, and branch points. Multivariable linear regression models were adjusted for age, sex, central macular thickness, and MNV type.
Results:
SHRM was present in 56 eyes (62.9%) and absent in 33 eyes (37.1%). Compared with SHRM-negative eyes, SHRM-positive eyes had worse baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (P < 0.001), greater central macular thickness (P < 0.001), and higher frequencies of subretinal fluid, intraretinal fluid, and retinal hemorrhage. SHRM-positive eyes also showed higher MNV vessel density (0.262 vs. 0.196; P = 0.017), fractal dimension (1.568 vs. 1.487; P = 0.024), and branch points (140.5 vs. 91.0; P = 0.035). After adjustment, SHRM remained associated with higher MNV vessel density (β = 0.045; P = 0.042), fractal dimension (β = 0.077; P = 0.029), and branch points (β = 98.74; P = 0.045).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that SHRM-positive status is associated with a denser, more complex, and more ramified OCTA-derived MNV vascular phenotype at baseline in treatment-naive nAMD.
