Evaluation of the role of optical coherence tomography angiography in monitoring treatment response in patients with neovascular age-;1;related macular degeneration

Abstract

Aim The aim was to assess the role of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in the diagnosis, assessment of activity, and monitoring the treatment response of choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods Prospective, interventional case series of eyes that were diagnosed with active neovascular AMD. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and OCTA were done at baseline after intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment to determine OCTA sensitivity in the detection of activity in relation to SD-OCT findings and its specificity following intervention. Results Twenty-five eyes were included, of which 20 eyes were imaged successfully by OCTA. The diagnostic sensitivity of OCTA in those eyes was found to be 75%, and its sensitivity in the assessment of neovascular activity was 80 and 60%, before and after anti-VEGF therapy, respectively, whereas its specificity after anti-VEGFs therapy was 100%. Conclusion Although SD-OCT continues to be the gold-standard for noninvasively diagnosing and tracking neovascular AMD treatment response, OCTA may offer a noninvasive option that can support treatment selection throughout follow-up and guide efficient therapeutic approaches. Author contributions: All authors contributed to the construction of idea and question of the research with complete assessment and managements of all the study group. Hebatalla S. Makled: Assessment of the patients with follow-up, doing OCTA for the patients with interpretation, data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing and revision. Ahmad Almabrook Sahban: recruitment of patients with consent acquisition, doing OCTA for the patients, treatment with follow-up of the patients, collection and analysis of data, and manuscript writing. Ayman M Khattab: Patients assessment, decision making and follow-up of patients treatment, OCTA interpretation, collection and analysis of data, and manuscript writing and revision. Ashraf Ahmed Nossair: Patients assessment with follow-up, OCTA interpretation, data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing and revision.