Vascularized drusen: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: To investigate whether neovascularization may arise and be detectable in drusen, as reported in histopathologic studies, by OCTA prior to developing exudation and to assess its prevalence in a cohort of patients with intermediate AMD. METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional study of 128 patients with intermediate AMD recruited as part of a separate ongoing clinical trial conducted at multiple large tertiary referral retina clinics. One hundred and twenty-eight consecutive patients with exudative AMD in one eye and intermediate non-exudative AMD in the fellow eye were enrolled and analyzed between September 2015 and March 2017. RESULTS: SD-OCTA identified vascularization within drusen in 7 of 128 eyes, for a prevalence of 5.5%. A total of 12 instances of vascularized drusen were noted. Out of the 12 vascularized drusen noted, 7 were located in the parafoveal region or subfoveal region and 5 was in the extrafoveal region. 9 of 12 instances of vascularized drusen exhibited a uniform sub-RPE hyperreflectivity, whilst 3 of 12 exhibited more heterogenous reflectivity. In all 12 instances, FA images failed to identify the neovascular nature of vascularized drusen. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the utility of SD-OCTA for the diagnosis of vascularized drusen in patients with intermediate non-exudative AMD. Longitudinal studies are needed to delineate the evolution and conversion risk of these lesions over time, which can be of substantial clinical relevance.