[Correlation of Quantitative Metamorphopsia Measurement and Central Retinal Thickness in Diabetic Macular Edema and Age-Related Exsudative Macular Degeneration].

BACKGROUND

Amsler Test is the standard used to detect metamorphopsia. To develop a tool to quantitatively measure and monitor metamorphopsia, the computer-based test "AMD - A Metamorphopsia Detector®" was developed. This study was performed to examine the correlation of metamorphopsia index (MI) and central retinal thickness (CRT) in exsudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME).

METHODS

Sixty-six eyes of 66 patients, DME: 19 (11 males, 8 females; age 42 - 76); AMD: 47 (13 male, 34 female; age 56 - 93) were included in this convenient sample study and classified as having or not having macular edema (central 500 µm, Cirrus HD-OCT). Best corrected monocular distance visual acuity (BCVA), Amsler Test, Metamorphopsia Index of AMD - A Metamorphopsia Detector, binocular ophthalmoscopy, central retinal thickness (SD-OCT) and fluorescein angiography, if necessary, were performed. Correlation of central retinal thickness and metamorphopsia index was evaluated by Spearman correlation.

RESULTS

Mean BCVA (logMAR) was 0.27 (SD 0.3) in DME and 0.29 (SD 0.2) in AMD. Spearman's rho as a measure for correlation between CRT and MI was 0.88 (p < 0.001) in DME and 0.56 (p < 0.001) in AMD.

CONCLUSIONS

Correlation of CRT und MI was high in DME and moderate in AMD. Future studies will examine if metamorphopsia measurement is a feasible tool for detection of conversion into neovascular AMD and for (self-)monitoring.