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Br J Ophthalmol 2006;90:191-197 doi:10.1136/bjo.2005.076612
  • Clinical science
    • Extended reports

Ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography in non-exudative age related macular degeneration

  1. C G Pieroni1,
  2. A J Witkin1,
  3. T H Ko2,
  4. J G Fujimoto2,
  5. A Chan1,
  6. J S Schuman3,
  7. H Ishikawa1,
  8. E Reichel1,
  9. J S Duker1
  1. 1New England Eye Center, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
  2. 2Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  3. 3UPMC Eye Center, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
  1. Correspondence to: Elias Reichel MD, New England Eye Center, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Tufts University, 750 Washington Street, Box 450, Boston, MA 02111, USA; ereichel{at}tufts-nemc.org
  • Accepted 2 October 2005

Abstract

Aim: To describe the appearance of the non-exudative forms of age related macular degeneration (AMD) as imaged by ultrahigh resolution optical coherence tomography (UHR-OCT).

Methods: A UHR-OCT ophthalmic imaging system, which utilises a femtosecond laser light source capable of ~3 μm axial resolution, was employed to obtain retinal cross sectional images of patients with non-exudative AMD. Observational studies of the resulting retinal images were performed.

Results: 52 eyes of 42 patients with the clinical diagnosis of non-exudative AMD were imaged using the UHR-OCT system. 47 of the 52 (90%) eyes had the clinical diagnosis of drusen and/or retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) changes. In these patients, three patterns of drusen were apparent on UHR-OCT: (1) distinct RPE excrescences, (2) a saw toothed pattern of the RPE, and (3) nodular drusen. On UHR-OCT, three eyes (6%) with a clinical diagnosis of non-exudative AMD had evidence of fluid under the retina or RPE. Two of these three patients had findings suspicious for subclinical choroidal neovascularisation on UHR-OCT.

Conclusion: With the increased resolution of UHR-OCT compared to standard OCT, the involvement of the outer retinal layers are more clearly defined. UHR-OCT may allow for the detection of early exudative changes not visible clinically or by angiography.

Footnotes

  • Supported in part by NIH contracts RO1-EY11289-16, R01-EY13178, and P30-EY13078, NSF contract ECS-0119452, Air Force Office of Scientific Research contract F49620-98-1-0139, Medical Free Electron Laser Program contract F49620-01-1-0186 and by Carl Zeiss Meditec.

  • Competing interests: JGF and JSS receive royalties from intellectual property licensed by MIT to Carl Zeiss Meditec. JGF and JSS receive research support from Carl Zeiss Meditec.

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