Association of Near-Infrared and Short-Wavelength Autofluorescence With the Retinal Sensitivity in Eyes With Resolved Central Serous Chorioretinopathy

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the results of near-infrared autofluorescence (NIRAF) and short-wavelength autofluorescence (SWAF) imaging of eyes with resolved central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and to assess the retinal sensitivity (RS) in areas with abnormal autofluorescence (AF) using white-on-white (WW) and blue-on-yellow (BY) perimetries.

Methods: We examined 20 consecutive eyes with resolved CSC. We calculated the areas of abnormal AF detected by SWAF and NIRAF imaging as SWAF_area and NIRAF_area, respectively, and the number of measurement points within and outside abnormal SWAF and NIRAF regions were counted. The results of WW and BY perimetries were superimposed on the AF images, and the mean overall RS within and outside abnormal SWAF and NIRAF regions were calculated using both WW and BY perimetries (W-RSin_SWAF, W-RSout_SWAF, W-RSin_NIRAF, W-RSout_NIRAF, B-RSin_SWAF, B-RSout_SWAF, B-RSin_NIRAF, and B-RSout_NIRAF, respectively).

Results: The mean age of the participants was 54.1 years. The SWAF_area was significantly smaller than the NIRAF_area (P < 0.0001, Wilcoxon signed rank test). A χ2 test suggested a significant relationship between the number of measurement points within/outside abnormal SWAF and NIRAF regions (P < 0.0001). In the results of measurement by WW perimetry, there was a significant difference between W-RSin_NIRAF and W-RSout_NIRAF (P < 0.0001), but not between W-RSin_SWAF and W-RSout_SWAF (P = 0.060, Wilcoxon rank sum test). In contrast, on BY perimetry, there were significant differences between both B-RSin_SWAF and B-RSout_SWAF and between B-RSin_NIRAF and B-RSout_NIRAF (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: NIRAF was useful for predicting impaired RS in eyes with resolved CSC.

Figure 1.

Representative areas of abnormal signals on NIRAF (A) and SWAF (B) imaging superimposed by the perimetry results using the built-in software in the AP-7000 perimeter. The damaged area is inside the red curved line. NIRAF, near-infrared autofluorescence; SWAF, short-wavelength autofluorescence.

Figure 2.

RS within and outside the area of abnormal autofluorescence in SWAF (A) and NIRAF (B) images measured by WW perimetry. A There was no significant difference between W-RSin_SWAF and W-RSout_SWAF (P = 0.060, Wilcoxon rank sum test). B There was a significant difference between W-RSin_NIRAF and W-RSout_NIRAF (P < 0.0001, Wilcoxon rank sum test). W-RSin_SWAF, RS within the area of abnormal autofluorescence in SWAF images measured by WW perimetry; W-RSout_SWAF, RS outside the area of abnormal autofluorescence in SWAF images measured by WW perimetry; W-RSin_NIRAF, RS within the area of abnormal autofluorescence in NIRAF images measured by WW perimetry; W-RSout_NIRAF, RS outside the area of abnormal autofluorescence in NIRAF images measured by WW perimetry.

Figure 3.

RS within and outside the area of abnormal autofluorescence region in SWAF (A) and NIRAF (B) images measured by BY perimetry. A There was a significant difference between B-RSin_SWAF and B-RSout_SWAF (P < 0.001, Wilcoxon rank sum test). B There was a significant difference between B-RSin_NIRAF and B-RSout_NIRAF (P < 0.0001, Wilcoxon rank sum test). B-RSin_SWAF, RS within the area of abnormal autofluorescence in SWAF images measured by blue-on-yellow perimetry; B-RSout_SWAF, RS outside the area of abnormal autofluorescence in SWAF images measured by blue-on-yellow perimetry; B-RSin_NIRAF, RS within the area of abnormal autofluorescence in NIRAF images measured by blue-on-yellow perimetry; B-RSout_NIRAF, RS outside the area of abnormal autofluorescence in NIRAF images measured by blue-on-yellow perimetry.