Long-Term Monitoring of Age-Related Macular Degeneration With Preferential Hyperacuity Perimetry

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To estimate the efficacy and usability of preferential hyperacuity perimetry (PHP) for monitoring patients with high-risk intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A long-term, observational, prospective case series of patients with intermediate AMD who underwent fluorescein angiography at recruitment. Eyes were examined every 3 months with PHP, visual acuity, and biomicroscopy. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging was performed when PHP was outside normal limits. In case of suspected findings in OCT, fluorescein angiography was also performed. Patients diagnosed as having choroidal neovascularization (CNV) were offered anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. RESULTS: Twenty-six eyes (25 patients) were monitored for a mean follow-up period of 600 days. Of the 172 PHP tests done by these 26 eyes with intermediate AMD, 158 were within normal limits yielding a false-positive rate of 8.1%. Three of 4 eyes that converted to CNV had PHP test results outside normal limits before or on the day of diagnosis. CONCLUSION: PHP is useful for detecting CNV in regularly monitored eyes with intermediate AMD while maintaining a low false-positive rate.