PROSPECTIVE TRIAL OF HOME OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY-GUIDED MANAGEMENT OF TREATMENT EXPERIENCED NEOVASCULAR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION PATIENTS.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the impact of home optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided patient management on treatment burden and visual outcomes.

METHODS

An interventional trial was conducted to compare frequency of treatment and visual acuity for the neovascular age-related macular degeneration patients before and during use of home optical coherence tomography over a period of 6 months. Patient adherence to regular scanning was measured by the number of scans performed per week. The characteristics of episodes of fluid recurrence and classification of typical fluid volume trajectories were performed.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven eyes (21 with diagnosis of neovascular age-related macular degeneration and one converted during the study), of 15 patients were monitored for 6 months, scanning at 6.2 times/week per eye and yielding 4,435 scans of which 91.2% were eligible for artificial intelligence-based fluid volume quantification. Total number of monitoring weeks before and during the study were 1,555 and 509. The mean (SD) number of weeks per injection before and during home OCT management were 8.0 (4.7) and 15.3 (8.5) (P = 0.004), respectively. The mean (SD) visual acuity change before and during home OCT-based management was 3.5 (12.0) letters and 0.0 (9.5) letters (P = 0.45), respectively, showing no significant impact on visual acuity.

CONCLUSION

For the first time, remote patient monitoring with a home OCT allowed personalized management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. This study showed significant reduction in treatment burden while maintaining stable visual acuity.