Scientific Reports (Jun 2017)

Evaluation of intraretinal migration of retinal pigment epithelial cells in age-related macular degeneration using polarimetric imaging

  • Masahiro Miura,
  • Shuichi Makita,
  • Satoshi Sugiyama,
  • Young-Joo Hong,
  • Yoshiaki Yasuno,
  • Ann E. Elsner,
  • Shigeo Tamiya,
  • Rintaro Tsukahara,
  • Takuya Iwasaki,
  • Hiroshi Goto

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03529-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the intraretinal migration of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using polarimetry. We evaluated 155 eyes at various AMD stages. Depolarized light images were computed using a polarization-sensitive scanning laser ophthalmoscope (PS-SLO), and the degree of polarization uniformity was calculated using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT). Each polarimetry image was compared with the corresponding autofluorescence (AF) images at 488 nm (SW-AF) and at 787 nm (NIR-AF). Intraretinal RPE migration was defined by the presence of depolarization at intraretinal hyperreflective foci on PS-SLO and PS-OCT images, and by the presence of hyper-AF on both NIR-AF and SW-AF images. RPE migration was detected in 52 of 155 eyes (33.5%) and was observed in drusenoid pigment epithelial detachment (PED) and serous PED with significantly higher frequencies than in other groups (P = 0.015). The volume of the migrated RPE cluster in serous PED was significantly correlated with the volume of the PED (R2 = 0.26; P = 0.011). Overall, our results showed that intraretinal RPE migrations occurred in various AMD stages, and that they occurred more commonly in eyes with serous and drusenoid PED.