Vitreomacular adhesion in HD-OCT images in the age-related macular degeneration

Introduction
The aim of this study was to evaluate an incidence of the vitreomacular adhesion in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

Material and methods
We examined 472 eyes in 241 patients (136 W/ 105 M) in age of 54–92 years (mean 62.6 years ± 8.5) with dry or wet age-related macular degeneration using Cirrus HD-OCT (Zeiss) macular cube 512x128 program or 5-line program.

Results
Vitreomacular adhesion was observed in 139 eyes with dry age-related macular degeneration (29.4%, p=0.000*), in 101 eyes with drusen (21.4%, p=0.000*), in 38 eyes with retinal pigment epithelium alterations (8%, p=0.202), in 278 eyes with wet age-related macular degeneration (58.9%, p=0.001*), in 21 eyes with pigment epithelial detachment (4.4%, p=0.303), in 161 eyes with choroidal neovascularization (34.1%, p=0.031*) and in 96 eyes with scar (20.4%, p=0.040*).

Conclusions
Probably, vitreomacular adhesion alone is not able to induce age-related macular degeneration, but it may be associated with choroidal neovascularization development, it can contribute to exudate formation and choroidal neovascularization, it may induces or sustains a chronic low-grade inflammation in the macula region.