Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30404862›Full record

ArticleScience translational medicine2018

Calcified nodules in retinal drusen are associated with disease progression in age-related macular degeneration.

Anna C S Tan, Matthew G Pilgrim, Sarah Fearn, Sergio Bertazzo, Elena Tsolaki, Alexander P Morrell, Miaoling Li, Jeffrey D Messinger, Rosa Dolz-Marco, Jianqin Lei and 5 more

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Science translational medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
88citing papers in PubMed
15.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

88 citing papers in PubMed, 154 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. The crossroads between osteosarcopenia and intrinsic capacity-a narrative review.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Observational
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. En Face OCT and the Phenotype Characterization of Drusen.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025
    Article
  16. Review
  17. Observational
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors at 10 institutions in 3 countries.

Anna C S TanVitreous Retina Macula Consultants of New York, New York, NY 10022, USA.
Matthew G PilgrimUCL Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8144-5631
Sarah FearnDepartment of Materials, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-9798-8398
Sergio BertazzoDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, London WC1E 6BT, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-4889-8190
Elena TsolakiDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Alexander P MorrellMaterial Physics, Aston University, Aston Express Way, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK.
Miaoling LiDepartment of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 32594-0019, USA.
Jeffrey D MessingerDepartment of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 32594-0019, USA.
Rosa Dolz-MarcoVitreous Retina Macula Consultants of New York, New York, NY 10022, USA.
Jianqin LeiDoheny Image Reading Center, Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Muneeswar G NittalaDoheny Image Reading Center, Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Srinivas R SaddaDoheny Image Reading Center, Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Imre LengyelUCL Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL, UK. i.lengyel@qub.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0001-7467-2174
K Bailey FreundVitreous Retina Macula Consultants of New York, New York, NY 10022, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7888-9773
Christine A CurcioDepartment of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 32594-0019, USA.
University of Alabama at Birmingham · USDoheny Eye Institute · USManhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital · USUniversity College London · GBAston University · GBEastman Dental Hospital · GBImperial College London · GBQueen's University Belfast · GBSingapore National Eye Center · SGUniversity of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

Visual Phenotyping CoreP30EY003039 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI LAWRENCE C SINCICH · 1985 to 2026
$16.9M
QUANTITATIVE ANAYLSIS OF AGING RETINAR01EY006109 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI CURCIO, CHRISTINE A · 1986 to 2012
$3.5M
NEI NIH HHS P30 EY003039NEI NIH HHS R01 EY006109
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Drusen are lipid-, mineral-, and protein-containing extracellular deposits that accumulate between the basal lamina of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and Bruch's membrane (BrM) of the human eye. They are a defining feature of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common sight-threatening disease of older adults. The appearance of heterogeneous internal reflectivity within drusen (HIRD) on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images has been suggested to indicate an increased risk of progression to advanced AMD. Here, in a cohort of patients with AMD and drusen, we show that HIRD indicated an increased risk of developing advanced AMD within 1 year. Using multimodal imaging in an independent cohort, we demonstrate that progression to AMD was associated with increasing degeneration of the RPE overlying HIRD. Morphological analysis of clinically imaged cadaveric human eye samples revealed that HIRD was formed by multilobular nodules. Nanoanalytical methods showed that nodules were composed of hydroxyapatite and that they differed from spherules and BrM plaques, other refractile features also found in the retinas of patients with AMD. These findings suggest that hydroxyapatite nodules may be indicators of progression to advanced AMD and that using multimodal clinical imaging to determine the composition of macular calcifications may help to direct therapeutic strategies and outcome measures in AMD.

Indexed as

Disease ProgressionAged, 80 and overBruch MembraneCalcinosisFemaleGeographic AtrophyHumansMacular DegenerationMaleMultimodal ImagingRetinal DrusenRetinal Pigment Epithelium

Identifiers

PMID30404862
PMCPMC10721335
OpenAlexW2900348123

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.