Investigation of optical coherence tomography angiography findings in patients with age-related macular degeneration

Investigation of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Findings in Patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration Purpose: To evaluate the effects of smoking in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) and to try to elucidate the role of smoking in the pathogenesis of AMD. Methods: 127 patients with dry age-related macular degeneration and 60 control cases without any retinal pathology were included in this prospective study. Were recorded best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and smoking rates of the cases and OCTA scans, were performed. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of age, gender and smoking rates (all; p>0.05). Vascular density measurements in the superficial and deep capillary plexuses and central choriocapillaris perfusion area measurements in dry type AMD patients were lower than those of the control group, and noticed that the measurements gradually decreased as the dry type AMD stage increased (p<0.05). When smokers and non-smokers were compared, there was no statistically significant difference between vascular density measurements in the superficial and deep capillary plexuses and perfusion area measurements of the central choriocapillaris (all; p>0,05). There were no correlations between the amount of smoking and vascular density measurements in the superficial and deep capillary plexuses and perfusion area measurements of the central choriocapillaris. Conclusion: İt affects retinal and choroidal structures in dry-type AMD, and as the stage of dry-type AMD increases, the involvement in retinal and choroidal structures increases. Smoking does not affect retinal and choroidal circulation. Keywords: Dry type age-related macular degeneration, smoking, optical coherence tomography angiography.