Fundus autofluorescence in age-related macular disease imaged with a laser scanning ophthalmoscope.

Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) as the most common cause of legal blindness in industrialized countries remains an incompletely understood, complex retinal disease. Prophylactic and therapeutic options are still limited. Sensitive diagnostic tools and prognostic markers to evaluate disease stage and progression in the individual patient are needed. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) plays a key role in the disease process both in early and late variants of AMD. An excessive accumulation of lipofuscin granules in the lysosomal compartment of RPE cells represents a common downstream pathogenetic pathway in various retinal diseases including AMD. Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging allows the visualization of the topographic distribution of lipofuscin over large retinal areas (Fig. 3, Ref. 13).