NON-EXUDATIVE INTRARETINAL FLUID IN INTERMEDIATE AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

Background: To describe the occurrence of non-exudative intraretinal fluid (IRF) in intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD). Methods: A retrospective study was designed to include consecutive cases with iAMD associated with IRF. A multimodal imaging (MMI) approach was used to confirm diagnosis of IRF in iAMD. MMI included color fundus photograph, fundus autofluorescence, fluorescein angiography (FA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCT-A). Results: Ten eyes of 10 patients (2 males and 8 females, ages 68-80) showing IRF in iAMD were included in the study. Mean best-corrected visual acuity was 20/40 Snellen equivalent. MMI including FA/ICGA, and OCT demonstrated the absence of macular neovascularization (MNV) in all cases; OCT-A did not detect any abnormal flow signal associated with IRF. Seven out of 10 patients developed IRF in correspondence of pigment epithelium detachment. Three out of 10 patients presented IRF in correspondence of an area of nascent geographic atrophy. Conclusion: Non-exudative intraretinal fluid in intermediate AMD is a novel, distinctive feature that is characterized by the presence of IRF with no evidence of MNV. We described different phenotypes of IRF in iAMD. The definite diagnosis of this condition requires further studies with thorough application of multimodal imaging.