Clinical characteristics of exudative age-related macular degeneration in Japanese patients.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the clinical characteristics of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Japanese patients.


METHODS
Retrospective, observational, consecutive case series.


METHODS
Two hundred and eighty-nine patients with neovascular AMD were examined.


RESULTS
The authors classified the patients into three subtypes of neovascular AMD: polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP), and typical AMD. One hundred and fifty-eight patients (54.7%) were diagnosed with PCV and 102 patients (35.3%) with typical AMD. RAP was observed in 13 patients (4.5%). In 16 patients (5.5%), one eye had PCV and the other eye had typical AMD. Most patients with PCV and typical AMD had unilateral disease (81.6% and 94.1%, respectively) with a male preponderance (77.8% and 71.6%, respectively). Nine of 13 patients with RAP were female (69.2%). Patients with RAP were older (mean, 80.3 years for men and 75.3 years for women) than patients with other subtypes. Serous and hemorrhagic pigment epithelial detachment developed in 69 patients (43.7%) with PCV, 22 patients (21.6%) with typical AMD, and nine patients (69.2%) with RAP. In the patients with unilateral disease in each subtype, large drusen in the unaffected eye were seen in 24.0% with PCV, 30.2% with typical AMD, and 77.8% with RAP.


CONCLUSIONS
Neovascular AMD in Japanese patients has different demographic features compared with that in White patients. In Japanese patients, there is a preponderance of PCV, male gender, unilaterality, and absence of drusen in the second eye, with the exception of RAP.
Maruko
Ichiro
I
Department of Ophthalmology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
Iida
Tomohiro
T
Saito
Masaaki
M
Nagayama
Dai
D
Saito
Kuniharu
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply; D015862:Choroid Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D005122:Exudates and Transudates; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D015861:Retinal Neovascularization / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D012189:Retrospective Studies