FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING OPHTHALMOSCOPY AS PREDICTOR OF LONG-TERM FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME IN MACULA-OFF RHEGMATOGENOUS RETINAL DETACHMENT

To assess whether macular fluorescence lifetimes may serve as a predictor for long-term outcomes in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. METHODS: A single-center observational study was conducted. Patients with pseudophakic macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment were included and evaluated 1 and 6 months after successful reattachment surgery. Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy lifetimes in the central Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid subfield, in two distinct channels (short spectral channel and long spectral channel) were analyzed. Best-corrected visual acuity optical coherence tomography of the macula and fluorescence lifetimes were measured at month 1 and month 6. RESULTS: Nineteen patients were analyzed. Lifetimes of the previously detached retinas were prolonged compared with the healthy fellow eyes. Short lifetimes at month 1 were associated with better best-corrected visual acuity improvement (short spectral channel: r(2) = 0.27, P < 0.05, long spectral channel: r(2) = 0.23, P < 0.05) and with good final best-corrected visual acuity (short spectral channel: r(2) = 0.43, P < 0.01, long spectral channel: r(2) = 0.25, P < 0.05). Lifetimes were prolonged in some cases of outer retinal damage in optical coherence tomography scans. CONCLUSION: Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy might serve as a prediction tool for functional recovery in pseudophakic macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Retinal fluorescence lifetimes could give insight in molecular processes after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.