Purpose: To compare enlargement rates over 5 years of follow-up in geographic atrophy (GA) versus macular atrophy (MA) associated with macular neovascularization (MNV).
Design: Retrospective, longitudinal comparative case series of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients with GA (dry) or MA with MNV.
Methods: Atrophic regions on serial registered fundus autofluorescence (FAF) images were semiautomatically delineated and area measurements were recorded every 6±3 months for the first 2 years of follow-up and at yearly intervals up to 5 years.
Results: 117 eyes of 95 patients were included (61 in the GA and 56 in the MA cohort); 100% and 38.5% of eyes completed 2 and 5 years of follow-up, respectively. Mean baseline lesion size was similar between the two groups (raw: 1.74 vs. 1.53 mmˆ2, p = 0.56; sqrt transformed: 1.17 vs. 1.02 mm, p = 0.26). Overall enlargement rates were greater for the GA cohort (raw: 1.72 vs. 1.32 mmˆ2/year, p = 0.002; sqrt transformed: 0.41 vs. 0.33 mm/year; p = 0.03), as well as the area of atrophy growth at 5 years (raw: +8.06 vs. +4.55 mmˆ2, p = 0.001; sqrt transformed: +1.93 vs. +1.38 mm, p = 0.02). Estimated sqrt transformed area was also significantly greater for the GA cohort at 2 years (1.84 vs. 1.67 mm, p = 0.01).
Conclusions: Presence of MNV was associated with a slower rate of expansion resulting in overall smaller areas of atrophy over time. These findings support the hypothesis that MNV may protect against the progression of atrophy.
Airaldi M, Corvi F, Cozzi M, Nittala MG, Staurenghi G, Sadda SR. Differences in long-term progression of atrophy between neovascular and non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Ophthalmol Retina. 2022 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35460930/
