Sonya Besagar, MD
Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Nashville, TN
Eric Jung was awarded the Fellowship Research Award for his work entitled Spontaneous Drusen Reduction Volume is Associated With Persistent Ellipsoid Zone Integrity Alterations in Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Dr. Jung completed his medical school and residency at the University of Southern California and Roski Eye Institute and is currently a fellow at the Cole Eye Institute in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Jung described the controversy that exists surrounding areas of EZ loss and whether they represent true EZ disruption secondary to photoreceptor stress or artifactual signal loss. The study hypothesized that if EZ changes overlying drusen are in fact artifact, then EZ integrity metrics would improve as drusen volume decreases. Thus, the aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of drusen volume reduction on quantitative EZ integrity in the central macula.
Dr. Jung’s study utilized a semiautomated, machine learning-enhanced multi-layer retinal segmentation platform applied to macular OCTs of patients with non-exudative intermediate AMD. A 5% threshold in the mean absolute change of EZ attenuation in the central 2 mm subfield was used to define improvement or worsening.
The results of the study found that EZ loss persists or progresses after drusen volume reduction in the vast majority of eyes, thus supporting the theory of true EZ loss secondary to drusen-related photoreceptor damage, rather than optical artifact. EZ integrity therefore represents a meaningful biomarker in the study of intermediate AMD that may warrant further study or potential inclusion as clinical trial endpoints.
