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Intact Henle fiber layer indicates potential for good vision in AMD patients, study finds
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Patients with age-related macular degeneration who have an undisrupted foveal birefringence bowtie pattern are more likely to have better visual acuities than patients with disrupted or absent bowtie patterns, according to a study.
Ann E. Elsner, PhD, of the Indiana University School of Optometry, and colleagues investigated the relationship between visual acuity and foveal birefringence in 40 patients with neovascular AMD. Dr. Elsner and colleagues evaluated birefringence status by using scanning laser polarimetry to examine bowtie patterns typically seen in birefringence images of the macula. Their findings are published in the March issue of Eye.
Patients with regular bowtie patterns had the highest visual acuity, which averaged 0.34 on the logMAR scale and was significantly higher than patients with disrupted bowties (P = .01) or absent bowties (P = .0007), the authors said.
"Appearance of a regular bowtie indicates a substantially intact Henle fiber layer with the potential for good visual function, despite the presence of underlying pathology," the authors said.
"Conversely, disruption or absence of a bowtie may indicate severe damage to the photoreceptors, consistent with the finding of poorer visual quality," they added.