Clinical findings and courses of age-related maculopathy

We reviewed 906 eyes of 453 patients who had age-related maculopathy in one eye at least. The series comprised 314 males and 139 females. Their ages ranged from 48 to 91 years, average 69±8.9 years. The initial fundus lesions comprised early-stage age-related maculopathy 151 eyes, serous detachment of retinal pigment epithelium 21 eyes, and age-related macular degeneration 510 eyes including exudative type 489 eyes and atrophic type 21 eyes. During the course of observation, early-stage age-related maculopathy progressed to macular degeneration in 2 eyes and to macular atrophy in 1 eye. The exudative lesion either persisted or progressed to fibrosis in 60% of eyes belonging to exudative type. The visual acuity deteriorated in 35% of eyes of this type. Only 20% of eyes in the whole series satisfied the criteria for laser treatment set by the Macular Photocoagulation Study Group. Well-defined neovascularization was detected by indocyanine green (ICG) angiography in 75% of eyes that showed poorly defined neovascularization by fluorescein angiography. Visual acuity was preserved in 60% of eyes by ICG-guided laser photocoagulation.