Original articleProgression of Geographic Atrophy and Impact of Fundus Autofluorescence Patterns in Age-related Macular Degeneration
Section snippets
Patients and methods
Patients with GA secondary to AMD were included from the longitudinal natural history arm of the multicenter FAM-Study (registration www.clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00393692). The study followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the local Institutional Review Boards and the local ethics committees at the study centers. Informed consent was obtained from each patient after explanation of the nature and possible consequences of the study.
Patients with uni- or multifocal GA
Results
A total of 195 eyes of 129 patients (76 female, 53 male) met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Median age at first examination was 73.8 years (interquartile range [IQR], 67.6 to 78.2). Bilateral GA was present in 87 patients; in 66 of those patients, both eyes were included into the study, whereas 42 patients had unilateral atrophies. In three study eyes, a CNV developed during the follow-up period (1.5%). Overall, median follow-up for all eyes was 1.80 years (IQR, 1.28 to 3.34; range,
Discussion
With the advent of digital confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, it has become possible to visualize LF accumulation at the level of the RPE cell monolayer in vivo.19, 20, 21, 35 FAF imaging gives additional information above and beyond conventional imaging tools such as fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, or optical coherence tomography. In a cross-sectional analysis of the FAM-Study, we recently identified various distinct patterns of abnormal elevated FAF in the junctional zone of
Frank G. Holz, MD, is a Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Germany. He has a particular interest in the pathogenesis and therapy of age-related macular degeneration. A main focus in retinal imaging is fundus autofluorescence imaging using scanning laser ophthalmoscopy. Dr Holz is a founding member of the German priority research program “Age-related Macular Degeneration”, Editor-in-Chief of the organ of the German Ophthalmological Society “Der
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Frank G. Holz, MD, is a Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Germany. He has a particular interest in the pathogenesis and therapy of age-related macular degeneration. A main focus in retinal imaging is fundus autofluorescence imaging using scanning laser ophthalmoscopy. Dr Holz is a founding member of the German priority research program “Age-related Macular Degeneration”, Editor-in-Chief of the organ of the German Ophthalmological Society “Der Ophthalmologe”, and president-elect of that society.
Supplemental Material available at AJO.com.