Influence of Structural OCT Biomarkers on Functional Outcomes in Eyes With Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose To investigate the effect of structural optical coherence tomography (OCT) biomarkers on the functional outcome in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) undergoing anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy. Patients and Methods This retrospective study included 305 eyes of 254 patients with primary onset nAMD followed for 2 years. At baseline, several OCT structural biomarkers were assessed. We evaluated the interaction between the presence of all these biomarkers and the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in logMAR and the number of intravitreal injections, (IVI) administered over 2 years of treatment. Results The BCVA was 0.44±0.24 before treatment and 0.53±0.20 after 24 months (p=0.10). BCVA in logMAR after 2 years was significantly positively correlated with baseline presence of intraretinal fluid (IRF) (p <0.001), vitreomacular traction/adhesion (VMT/A) (p=0.04), photoreceptor layer damage (PRD) (p <0.001), and prechoroidal clefts (P=0.02). A significant positive correlation was found between the number of IVIs administered over 2 years and the presence of IRF (p=0.02) and subretinal hyperreflective material (SHRM) (p=0.03) at baseline. Conclusions The baseline presence of IRF, VMT/A, PRD, and prechoroidal clefts may be limit recovery of BCVA after 2 years of treatment. In addition, the presence of IRF and SHRM may be associated with a higher number of IVIs over 2 years of treatment.