Subfoveal choroidal neovascular membranes in age-related macular degeneration. Visual prognosis in eyes with relatively good initial visual acuity.
We determined the visual prognosis of 94 eyes in 92 patients having age-related macular degeneration, a discrete choroidal neovascular membrane directly under the center of the foveal avascular zone (subfoveal), and an initial visual acuity of 20/100 or better. Of the patients who were reexamined 24 months following their initial presentation, 77% had lost at least four lines of vision and 64% had lost at least six lines. Estimation of visual loss using a conservative assessment procedure showed four-line visual loss in 65% of the patients and six-line loss in 50%. In general, the better the visual acuity at the initial examination, the more likely the patient was to have a smaller choroidal neovascular membrane. These results suggest that it may be reasonable to consider a randomized clinical trial of laser photocoagulation for this group of patients with a relatively poor visual prognosis.
D R
DR
Guyer
S L
SL
Fine
M G
MG
Maguire
B S
BS
Hawkins
S L
SL
Owens
R P
RP
Murphy
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005584:Fovea Centralis; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D011379:Prognosis; D014792:Visual Acuity