These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Bilateral macular drusen in age-related macular degeneration. Prognosis and risk factors.
    Author: Holz FG, Wolfensberger TJ, Piguet B, Gross-Jendroska M, Wells JA, Minassian DC, Chisholm IH, Bird AC.
    Journal: Ophthalmology; 1994 Sep; 101(9):1522-8. PubMed ID: 8090455.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: In patients with unilateral visual loss related to age-related macular disease, the risk of visual loss in the second eye is documented as being between 7% and 10% per year. The risk is uncertain in those with good vision with each eye and bilateral macular drusen. METHODS: In a prospective study, 126 patients with bilateral drusen were reviewed annually for up to 3 years. Serial fundus photographs and fluorescein angiograms were analyzed independently by two readers in a masked fashion using a standardized grading scheme, including size, number, density, and fluorescence angiographic behavior of drusen. RESULTS: New lesions occurred in one or both eyes of 17 (13.5%) of the 126 patients. The cumulative incidence of exudative or nonexudative lesions was 8.55% at 1 year, at 2 years 16.37%, and 23.52% at 3 years for patients older than 65 years of age. Significant risk factors included the degree of confluence of drusen within 1600 microns of the center of the fovea (P = 0.023), focal hyperpigmentation (P = 0.004), slow choroidal filling (P = 0.023), and focal extrafoveal areas of atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (P = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: The results give an estimate for the incidence of complicating lesions in patients with bilateral drusen and identify those features indicating higher than average risk of visual loss.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]