Origins of Ghost Drusen: A follow-up Analysis. Issue 1 (2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bottin, Caroline; Zambrowski, Olivia; Querques, Giuseppe; Yves Cohen, Salomon; Srour, Mayer; Semoun, Oudy; Souied, Eric H.
• Is Part Of: Ophthalmology @ point of care. Volume 1:Issue 1(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017
• Subjects: Age-related macular degeneration -- Drusen -- Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography; Ophthalmology -- Periodicals; 617.7005
• DOI: 10.5301/oapoc.0000011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2399-3685

Abstract

Purpose: Ghost drusen (GD) are pyramidal or dome-shaped retinal pigment epithelium elevations observed in some geographic atrophy (GA) areas in the context of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The purpose was to investigate the first morphologic features preceding GD on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) on patients with GA associated with AMD. Methods: A retrospective observational study was performed on a series of patients with GA that had at least 3 years of follow-up. Using the follow-up tool of SD-OCT, we tracked the initial lesions that could lead to GD. Results: Among 442 patients with GA, 37 had well defined GD (8%). We included the 17/37 patients (31 eyes) with at least 3 years of follow-up for analysis, which led to a total of 582 counted GD. Most GD were already present at the first visit, and remained stable. However, on 13 of the 582 analyzed GD (2.2%), soft drusen were shown as the initial lesion, which progressively turned into GD. Conclusions: GD were observed in less than 10% of eyes with GA. None of the ghost drusen turned into another shaped lesion, suggesting that GD is a possible final stage of evolution. In a few cases, large drusen were shown as the primary lesion that progressed into GD.