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Br J Ophthalmol 2008;92:361-364 doi:10.1136/bjo.2007.123976
  • Original Article
    • Clinical science

Relationships between clinical measures of visual function, fluorescein angiographic and optical coherence tomography features in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation

  1. T Moutray1,
  2. M Alarbi1,
  3. G Mahon1,
  4. M Stevenson3,
  5. U Chakravarthy1,2
  1. 1
    Directorate of Ophthalmology, Head and Skeletal Division, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  2. 2
    Centre for Vision Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  3. 3
    Centre for population sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  1. Professor U Chakravarthy, Centre for Vision Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland; u.chakravarthy{at}qub.ac.uk
  • Accepted 12 October 2007

Abstract

Aims: To examine the relationships between measures of vision, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) characteristics in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Study design: Retrospective case note review. Inclusion criteria were: confirmed diagnosis of new exudative AMD; recorded visual function using best corrected distance visual acuity (DVA), near visual acuity (NVA) and contrast sensitivity; corresponding FFA and OCT. FFA parameters included greatest linear diameter of lesion (GLD), area of choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) and area of leakage. OCT parameters included maximum retinal thickness (Retmax), central foveal thickness, maximum thickness of the CNV (CNVmax), and the distances from the foveal depression to Retmax and CNVmax.

Results: 74 patients were included in this study. Correlations were highly statistically significant for both NVA and contrast sensitivity with GLD, CNV area and leakage (p<0.01 for all combinations). With DVA, modest statistically significant correlations were seen with CNV area and GLD (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant correlation between CNV leakage and the distance of CNVmax to the fovea (p<0.05). The relationships between the measures of vision and OCT parameters were weak and did not reach significance. Regression analysis showed that the combination of Retmax, GLD, and CNVmax to fovea had the highest coefficient (r2 = 0.27).

Conclusion: OCT measurements by themselves are not robust markers for visual function.

Footnotes

  • A poster on this study was presented at the ARVO meeting in May 2006.

  • Competing interests: None declared.

Responses to this article

  • OCT measurement and visual function
    • Caroline J Styles,
    • Alia Ali
    Br J Ophthalmol published online August 7, 2009

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