In early and intermediate age related macular degeneration (ARMD), visual acuity alone has failed to explain the complete variation of vision. The aim of the present study was to determine correlation between different visual functions and retinal morphology in eyes with early and intermediate ARMD. In this single center cross sectional study, patients diagnosed as early or intermediate ARMD in at least one eye were recruited. Visual functions measured were best- corrected distance visual acuity (DVA), near vision acuity (NVA), reading speed (RS), and contrast sensitivity (CS). Parameters such as thickness (RT) and volume (RV) of the retina, outer retinal layer thickness (ORLT) and volume (ORLV), outer nuclear layer thickness (ONLT) and volume (ONLV), retinal pigment epithelium layer-Bruch’s membrane complex thickness (RPET) and volume (RPEV) were assessed employing semi-auto segmentation method of Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT). Twenty-six eyes were evaluated. DVA, CS, and RS showed significantly good correlation with RPET, ONLT, and ONLV, whereas NVA showed good correlation with ONLV and RPET. The present study concluded that RS, CS, NVA, and DVA represent the morphological alteration in early stages and should be tested in clinical settings. ONLT, ONLV, and RPET morphological parameters can be employed as important biomarkers in diagnosis of early to intermediate ARMD.

Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), a subtype of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, requires repeated treatment. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate and compare vision-targeted quality of life (QOL) at baseline and after 6 months of treatment in patients with PCV. Naive PCV patients were recruited. Visual functions assessed were distance visual acuity (DVA), near visual acuity (NVA), contrast sensitivity (CS), reading speed (RS), and QOL at baseline and after 6 months of treatment. Thirty patients (average age of 67.62 ± 8.05 years) revealed mean DVA and NVA improvements of 0.24 logMAR and 0.30 logMAR, respectively. Mean CS and RS improved by 0.39 log contrast and 25.58 words per minute, respectively. The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (NEI-VFQ-25) composite score significantly increased from a baseline of 66.73 ± 13.74 to 73.54 ± 14.26. Twenty-eight of the patients showed overall improvement in QOL score by 5 units or more or remained stable. Subscales of NEI-VFQ-25 significantly improved, with general vision, mental health, and role difficulties improving by 10 or more units. The present pilot study reports a significant improvement of QOL in PCV patients after 6 months of treatment, with mental health, role difficulties, social functioning, and distance vision activities being the most improved subscales.

The objective of this study was to compare visual parameters and retinal layers’ morphology pre-treatment (baseline) and 6 months post-treatment in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) eyes. A single centre, longitudinal, prospective study was conducted at a public tertiary hospital of Malaysia. Visual parameters including distance and near visual acuity (DVA and NVA), contrast sensitivity (CS), reading speed (RS), and different qualitative and quantitative optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters were evaluated pre- and 6 months post-treatment. Thirty-three naïve PCV eyes of 32 patients (mean age of 67.62 years) were evaluated pre- and post-treatment of intravitreal ranibizumab with and without photodynamic therapy. After treatment, sub retinal fluid decreased from 27 eyes (84.35%) at baseline to 7 eyes (21.88%) at 6 months while pigment epithelium detachment decreased from 32 eyes (100%) at base line to 15 eyes (46.87%) at 6 months. Mean pre-treatment quantitative morphological OCT retinal parameters including thickness and volume of central sub field, center thickness, center minimum, and maximum thickness reduced significantly. Similarly, all visual parameters including DVA, NVA, CS, and RS showed statistically significant improvement. While 89% of the eyes showed improvement in CS, 78%, 71%, and 65% of the eyes showed improvement in NVA, RS, and DVA, respectively. Thus, CS was the most treatment responsive visual parameter.

Although optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters have assisted in the diagnosis of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), its potential to evaluate treatment outcomes has not been established. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate baseline OCT parameters that may influence treatment outcome in PCV eyes with combination therapy. In this single-centered, prospective study, patients were recruited with at least one treatment-naïve PCV eye and treated with combination therapy of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor and photodynamic therapy. Best-corrected distance and near visual acuity (DVA and NVA), and contrast sensitivity (CS) were recorded at baseline and six months after treatment. OCT parameters were determined. Twenty-six eyes of 26 patients aged between 51 to 83 years were evaluated. In eyes that had disrupted external limiting membrane (ELM), photoreceptors inner and outer segment (IS-OS) junction at 1000 micron of fovea at baseline showed low mean visual functions after 6 months of treatment. Eyes with foveal sub-retinal fluid (SRF) and polyp at central 1000 micron of fovea at baseline showed significantly worse DVA and CS after six months. Thus, the presence of foveal SRF, foveal polyp, disrupted ELM, and IS-OS junction at baseline significantly influenced the six months’ visual outcome in PCV eyes treated with combination therapy.