[Clinical course and macular retinal circulation of macular retinal epithelium atrophy].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical course of age-related maculopathy that mainly consists of retinal pigment epithelial abnormality and macular retinal circulation between the affected eye and the fellow normal eye.


METHODS
Seventeen patients (19 eyes) with age-related maculopathy were followed for more than two years. We investigated visual acuity, ocular fundus appearance, and fundus angiographic findings. We studied macular retinal leukocyte blood flow measured by blue field simulation in 19 patients whose fellow eye was normal.


RESULTS
Age-related maculopathy in 18 eyes (95%) showed no change and choroidal neovasculation did not occur during the observation period. Male patients (88%) were more affected than female patients (12%). The visual acuity in the 18 eyes (95%) did not change. Only one case lost two lines of visual acuity, and the area of macular degeneration increased. Macular retinal leukocyte circulation expressed by the leukocyte density, and leukocyte density multiplied by the leukocyte velocity in the affected eyes deteriorated compared to the normal fellow eyes.


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that progression of age-related maculopathy is very slow, and macular retinal leukocyte circulation measured by blue field simulation may be disturbed in age-related maculopathy.
Sonomura
Yukiko
Y
Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Japan.
Harino
Seiyo
S
Iwahashi
Yoshiko
Y
Ishida
Miyuki
M
D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D001775:Blood Circulation; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000473:pathology*; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000473:pathology*; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014792:Visual Acuity