Stefano Sebastiani, Claudio Iovino, Giuseppe Giannaccare, Fabiana Moscardelli, Federico Bernabei, Emilio C. Campos, Pietro Emanuele Napoli, Marco Pellegrini, Giannaccare, G., Pellegrini, M., Sebastiani, S., Bernabei, F., Moscardelli, F., Iovino, C., Napoli, P. E., Campos, E., Giannaccare, Giuseppe, Pellegrini, Marco, Sebastiani, Stefano, Bernabei, Federico, Moscardelli, Fabiana, Iovino, Claudio, Napoli, Pietro E, and Campos, Emilio
Purpose: To evaluate choroidal structural changes occurring over time in geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration using choroidal vascularity index (CVI). Methods: Enhanced-depth imaging optical coherence tomography scans of 34 patients with GA and 32 control subjects were retrospectively analyzed. Data were collected at baseline and after a mean follow-up of 18.3 ± 8.3 months. Choroidal images were binarized using the ImageJ software, and the luminal area and stromal area were segmented. Cho- roidal vascularity index was defined as the ratio of luminal area to total choroid area. Results: Patients with GA showed significantly lower values of CVI, total choroid area, luminal area, and subfoveal choroidal thickness compared to control subjects (65.83 ± 3.95 vs. 69.33 ± 3.11, P , 0.001; 0.400 ± 0.239 mm2 vs. 0.491 ± 0.132, P = 0.006; 0.263 ± 0.152 mm2 vs. 0.340 ± 0.094, P = 0.002; 185.2 ± 79.8 mm vs. 216.8 ± 58.8 mm, P = 0.036, respectively). Best-corrected visual acuity was significantly correlated only with choroidal thickness (R = 20.509; P = 0.002). During the follow-up period in patients with GA, sub- foveal choroidal thickness decreased from 185.2 ± 79.8 to 152.2 ± 73.1 (P = 0.001), stromal area increased from 0.138 ± 0.090 mm2 to 0.156 ± 0.068 (P = 0.028), and CVI decreased from 65.83 ± 3.95 to 62.24 ± 3.63 (P , 0.001). Conclusion: This study showed for the first time that CVI is reduced in patients with GA, and that this metric further worsened during the follow-up period.