Imaging Characteristics of Choroidal Neovascular Lesions in the AREDS2-HOME Study: Report Number 4

Purpose: To characterize choroidal neovascular (CNV) lesions and the corresponding change in visual acuity (VA) in eyes that converted to neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2-HOme Monitoring of the Eye Study. (AREDS2-HOME Study).

Design: Cohort study.

Participants: A total of 1520 participants at risk of developing CNV were enrolled, each of whom contributed 1 or both study eye(s) that had a best-corrected VA letter score of ≥54 letters (Snellen equivalent 20/60) and ≥1 large (≥125 μm) macular druse in the absence of neovascular AMD or central geographic atrophy.

Methods: A multicenter clinical trial comparing standard care (SC) versus SC plus ForeseeHome (FH; Notal Vision, Manassas, VA) monitoring strategy in the detection of neovascular AMD. Fluorescein angiograms (FA) and OCT were evaluated by an independent reading center (RC) from the visit in which the ophthalmologist identified progression to CNV (n = 82 eyes).

Main Outcome Measures: Development of CNV on OCT, FA, or both.

Results: The RC confirmed CNV in 67 of 82 eyes (82%); lesions were confirmed in 42 of 70 eyes (60%) with FA, 59 of 72 eyes (82%) with OCT, and on both images in 34 of 67 eyes (51%). Among the FA-confirmed cases, the median lesion size was 0.82 disc area (DA); lesions were subfoveal in 40.5%, occult CNV composition was present in 54.8%, and associated hemorrhage in 50%. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) lesion size on FA was 0.23 (0.0-0.91) DA versus 0.70 (0.0-1.50) DA, P = 0.051) in the FH and SC eyes, respectively. Among the OCT-confirmed cases median (IQR) center point thickness was 209 (175-274) μm, retinal pigment epithelial lesion complex was present in 86.4%, and subretinal fluid (SRF) was present in 76.3%. The median change in VA from baseline was -4.0 letters and -10.0 letters in the FH and SC eyes (P = 0.008) confirmed as CNV at the RC.

Conclusions: Incident CNV lesions were more prevalent on OCT images than on FA; however, the use of both OCT and FA enhanced detection of incident lesions. Lesions were smaller and associated with less vision loss among eyes in the FH group.