M-charts as a tool for quantifying metamorphopsia in age-related macular degeneration treated with the bevacizumab injections

• Published in: BMC ophthalmology Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 13
• Main Authors: Nowomiejska, Katarzyna, Oleszczuk, Agnieszka, Brzozowska, Agnieszka, Grzybowski, Andrzej, Ksiazek, Katarzyna, Maciejewski, Ryszard, Ksiazek, Piotr, Juenemann, Anselm, Rejdak, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 15-04-2013; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - administration & dosage; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - administration & dosage; Bevacizumab; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Clinical medicine; Female; Health aspects; Health care; Humans; Intravitreal Injections; Macular degeneration; Male; Middle Aged; Ophthalmology; Patients; Physiological aspects; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vision Disorders - diagnosis; Vision Tests - instrumentation; Visual Acuity; Wet Macular Degeneration - diagnosis; Wet Macular Degeneration - drug therapy
• ISSN: 1471-2415; 1471-2415
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2415-13-13

This article is aimed to assess quantitatively metamorphopsia using M-charts in patients suffering from wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treated with the intravitreal bevacizumab injections and to compare the results with traditional Amsler grid and ocular coherence tomography (OCT).
Thirty-six patients diagnosed with wet AMD were examined one day before and one month after the intraocular injection of bevacizumab. Horizontal and vertical metamorphopsia scores using M-charts, distance visual acuity, Amsler test and OCT were performed at each visit. Additionally, 23 healthy subjects were examined as a control group.
The rate of metamorphopsia detection was 89% with M-charts and 69% with Amsler test. The horizontal metamorphopsia score improved in 22 patients, the vertical metamorphopsia score improved in 16 patients, the Amsler grid results improved in 6 patients, visual acuity improved in 17 patients. There was no correlation between the degree of metamorphopsia and the visual acuity or the central retinal thickness (CRT). The specificity of both the M-charts and Amsler grid was 100%.
The rate of metamorphopsia detection in wet AMD patients was better with M-charts than with Amsler grid. M-charts may be used in the assessment of efficacy of treatment with intravitreal bevacizumab injections as another outcome measure, moreover they can be used even at home for the self-assessment. M-charts provide additional information concerning the visual function, independent of the visual acuity, CRT and morphological changes in OCT.