Retinal oxygen metabolism in exudative age‐related macular degeneration. (6th November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Geirsdottir, Asbjorg; Hardarson, Sveinn Hakon; Olafsdottir, Olof Birna; Stefánsson, Einar
• Is Part Of: Acta ophthalmologica. Volume 92:Number 1(2014)
• Page Start: 27
• Page End: 33
• Publication Date: 2013-11-06
• Subjects: Ophthalmology -- Periodicals; 617.7005
• DOI: 10.1111/aos.12294
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1755-375X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="aos12294-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="aos12294-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Purpose</title> <p>To determine whether retinal vessel oxygen saturation in patients with exudative age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) is different from that of a healthy population.</p> </sec> <sec id="aos12294-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Oxygen saturation was measured in retinal arterioles and venules in 46 eyes of 46 treatment‐naïve exudative AMD patients and 120 eyes of 120 healthy controls. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were used to compare the two study groups.</p> </sec> <sec id="aos12294-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Oxygen saturation in retinal venules increases with age in patients with exudative AMD (0.45 ± 0.19% per year; p = 0.026), while it decreases with age in healthy individuals (−0.13 ± 0.03% per year; p = 0.0002). The slopes are statistically different (ANCOVA; p = 0.0003). The reverse is true for the arteriovenous difference in oxygen saturation, which decreases with age in AMD patients (−0.29 ± 0.16% per year; p = 0.065) and increases in healthy individuals (0.12 ± 0.03% per year; p < 0.0001). At age 80 years, AMD patients have 2.7 percentage points higher venous oxygen saturation than healthy persons and 4.2 percentage points less arteriovenous difference.</p> </sec> <sec id="aos12294-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>The data suggest that retinal oxygen metabolism may be altered in exudative AMD. The arteriovenous difference is smaller in exudative AMD than in a healthy cohort, consistent with reduced oxygen extraction by retinal vessels in AMD patients. Further studies are needed to fully understand the role of retinal oxygen metabolism in the pathophysiology of exudative AMD.</p> </sec> </abstract>