Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 152 patients who were diagnosed with non exudative AMD or GA and were followed-up during 2005-2011 at Ankara University Department of Ophthalmology. Autofluorescence imaging was performed with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (cSLO). The classification of International Fundus Autofluorescence Classification Group (IFAG) was used for description of the FAF patterns.

Results: Two hundred and twenty nine eyes of 152 patients were included. One hundred and seventy eight eyes presented various types of drusen and 51 eyes had GA. At baseline, the most common FAF patterns were reticular in 48 eyes (27%), minimal change in 33 eyes (18.5%) and patchy in 23 eyes (13%). During the follow-up, 22 of 178 eyes (12.3%) developed CNV. Of these 22 eyes; 7 (30.4%) eyes presented with patchy FAF pattern, 2 (25%) eyes had lineer pattern and 10(%20.8) eyes had reticular pattern at baseline. Of the 51 eyes with GA, 16 eyes (31.3%) had banded pattern, and 24 eyes (%47) had diffuse pattern surrounding the atrophy. In three of 51 eyes with GA, CNV developed in the vicinity of the atrophy which presented with banded or diffuse pattern in the junctional zone.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that patchy,lineer and reticular patterns have a relatively high risk of developing CNV in early AMD. In eyes with GA; banded and diffuse patterns in the junctional zone have high-risk for progression as well as CNV development. Fundus autofluorescence imaging is auseful, noninvasive tool to identify high-risk characteristics in patients with nonexudative AMD. Keywords : Fundus autofluorescence imaging, geographic atrophy, non-exudative age-related macular degeneration, progression