Assessment of Geographic Atrophy Using a Novel Hyperspectral Gradient Imaging Approach

Background and Objective: This study describes a novel hyperspectral imaging (HSI) approach for visualizing and measuring geographic atrophy (GA) lesions in age-related macular degeneration. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional subanalysis was conducted at Clinique Ophtalmologique 2121 (Montreal, Canada) between November 2022 and August 2023. Participants underwent color fundus photography (CFP), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and HSI using the Optina-4CTM camera. HSI gradient images at 560 nm were generated to visualize melanin depletion within the retinal pigment epithelium. Results: Among 152 eyes screened, eight (5.3%) showed GA. All GA lesions identified on OCT appeared as dark areas on HSI, while CFP failed to detect GA in two cases. HSI identified more GA lesions per eye than CFP ( P = .001) and yielded larger lesion dimensions compared with OCT ( P < .05). Conclusions: HSI at 560 nm provides complementary information for GA visualization and measurement to CFP and OCT, supporting further validation in future studies.