Subretinal Drusenoid Deposits and Photoreceptor Loss Detecting Global and Local Progression of Geographic Atrophy by SD-OCT Imaging.

Purpose To investigate the impact of subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDD) and photoreceptor integrity on global and local geographic atrophy (GA) progression. Methods Eighty-three eyes of 49 patients, aged 50 years and older with GA secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), were prospectively included in this study. Participants underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging at baseline and after 12 months. The junctional zone and presence of SDD were delineated on SD-OCT and FAF images. Linear mixed models were calculated to investigate the association between GA progression and the junctional zone area, baseline GA area, age, global and local presence of SDD and unifocal versus multifocal lesions. Results The area of the junctional zone was significantly associated with the progression of GA, both globally and locally (all P 0.05). Age did not have an effect on GA progression (P > 0.05). Conclusions Photoreceptor integrity and SDD are useful for predicting global and local growth in GA. Investigation of the junctional zone is merited because this area is destined to become atrophic. Photoreceptor loss visible on SD-OCT might lead to new structural outcome measurements visible before irreversible loss of retinal pigment epithelium occurs.