Chromatic Full-Field Stimulus Thresholds in Patients with Treatment-Naive Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Abstract

Antony William,1 Matthias Dias Blak,2 Altan Eshref,2 Florian Gekeler,2,3 Andreas Schatz,2,3 Katrin Gekeler2,3 1Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Klinikum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany; 3Centre for Ophthalmology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, GermanyCorrespondence: Andreas SchatzDepartment of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Elfriede –Alhorn-Straße 7, Tuebingen, 72076, Germany, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]: To evaluate retinal sensitivity using chromatic full-field stimulus thresholds (FST) in patients with treatment naive exudative age-related macular degeneration (e-ARMD) before and during the first intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment.Patients and Methods: After general ophthalmological examinations to diagnose patients with e-ARMD the FST, the central foveal thickness (FCt) and the visual acuity were assessed in 20 eyes of 20 patients during this prospective study. Examinations were performed before and during the first treatment series with three intravitreal anti-VEGF injections. Normal values for FST were assessed in 19 eyes of 19 healthy subjects. Results were analyzed using Student’s two-tailed t-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficients between all functional parameters.Results: At baseline and before the 1st intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment, a moderately significant negative correlation between VA and FCt was found in the e-ARMD group (p = 0.02, r = − 0.45 and p = 0.03, r = − 0.45), respectively. After the 2nd intravitreal anti-VEGF injection, no significant correlation between VA and FCt was found (p = 0.12). However, a significant correlation between FCt and blue FST was evident (p = 0.04, r = 0.4). After the 3rd intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment, there was no correlation evident between VA and FCt (p = 0.31) but a high significant correlation between FCt and FST using red (p = 0.01, r = 0.53), green (p = 0.002, r = 0.6) and blue light (p = 0.007, r = 0.66).Conclusion: During anti-VEGF treatment in patients with e-ARMD, the FST test showed higher significant correlations with the morphology measured by FCt, as it is the case for VA. These findings support that the FST test might serve as a valuable diagnostic tool for monitoring patients with e-ARMD and enhance functional assessment of retinal function under treatment with anti-VEGF.Keywords: chromatic full-field stimulus thresholds, foveal central thickness, intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor

Keywords

• chromatic full-field stimulus thresholds
• foveal central thickness
• intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor.