Assessment of Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness with SD-OCT in Eyes with Different Stages of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare the subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) with the use of Spectral-Domain OCT in eyes with AMD of different stages.

Methods: The participants comprised of 30 age-matched normal eyes as controls (Group 1), 19 with early-AMD eyes (Group 2), 14 with intermediate-AMD eyes (Group 3) and 29 with advanced (neovascular) AMD eyes (Group 4). All subjects underwent routine ophthalmologic examination. The choroid images, which included the subfoveal choroidal thickness images, obtained using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (and the technique of Enhanced Depth Imaging-EDI). All of the participants volunteered in this study and remained anonymous due to the protection of their personal data.

Results: 92 eyes with age greater than 65 years old were included. The mean subfoveal choroidal thickness was 260.93 ± 46.54 μm in age-matched normal eyes, 255.10 ± 44.85 μm in early AMD eyes, 230.92 ± 45.70 μm in intermediate AMD eyes and 206.82 ± 44.43 μm in advanced (neovascular) AMD eyes. There were statistically significant differences in the measurement results between the 4th Group with the 1st Group (P<0.0001) and 2nd Group (P=0.0006) respectively, meaning that SFCT was greater in normal and early AMD eyes.

Conclusion: Decreasing subfoveal choroidal thickness was demonstrated in the progression of AMD, especially in the advanced AMD eyes compared to normal or early AMD eyes.