INVESTIGATING A GROWTH PREDICTION MODEL IN ADVANCED AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION WITH SOLITARY GEOGRAPHIC ATROPHY USING QUANTITATIVE AUTOFLUORESCENCE

Purpose: To investigate geographic atrophy (GA) progression using quantitative autofluorescence (qAF) in eyes with solitary GA. Methods: Forty-three eyes of 26 patients (age 79.7 +/- 7.2 years; 28 women; 16 pseudophakic) underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and qAF imaging at baseline and after 12 months. The junctional zone (A(JZ)) and a nonaffected 300-mu m-wide control area (A(C)) were delineated on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans and transferred to the qAF image. Linear mixed models were calculated to investigate the association between GA progression and qAF, age, and baseline GA area. Mixed model analyses of variance were used to investigate differences in qAF between areas. Results: Quantitative autofluorescence of the three inferior sections of both the A(JZ)(P= 0.028;P= 0.014 andP= 0.032) and the A(C)(P= 0.043;P= 0.02 andP= 0.028) were significantly associated with GA progression after 12 months. However, qAF measurements were not associated with GA progression in the overall model (P> 0.05). Mean qAF was significantly lower in the A(JZ)and growth area (A(G12)) than in the A(C)(bothP <= 0.001). Conclusion: The authors report a statistically significant association between GA growth area and qAF measurements at specific retinal locations and a significant difference in qAF between the GA border and unaffected areas outside the lesion. Quantitative autofluorescence measurements may be limitedly useful for predicting GA progression.