Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To determine the prevalence of vitreo-macular attachments (VMA) among new symptomatic eyes in patients with non-vascular and vascular forms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: One-hundred-sixty-eight consecutive patients with non-vascular or vascular AMD with a recent unilateral change in vision were included in this study. Fluorescein angiograms (FA) were used to classify AMD in non-vascular and vascular form. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images were evaluated for the presence or absence of VMA. The symptomatic eye was determined from the patient’s description. Results: VMA was observed 67 patients (80 eyes). The prevalence for VMA in the 336 eyes was 23.8%. VMA was seen unilaterally in 54 patients (32.1%), bilaterally in 13 patients (7.8%) and was not visible in 101 patients (60.1%). Patients with unilateral VMA had a significantly higher prevalence for vascular AMD in eyes with VMA (p<0.001). Eleven (84.6%) out of 13 patients with bilateral VMA had vascular AMD in both eyes. There was a significant difference between patients with bilateral VMA and the patients without bilateral VMA in the prevalence of vascular AMD (p<0.071). In 168 symptomatic eyes, 56 of 56 (100%) of eyes with VMA also had CNV, while 94 of 112 (84%) of eyes without VMA had CNV. There was a higher prevalence of wet AMD in eyes with VMA compared to eyes without VMA. The difference is statistically significant (p<0.0001). Conclusion: VMA are more frequent in vascular than non-vascular AMD. VMA may play a critical role in the progression from non-vascular to vascular AMD or in the evolution of CNV.
Keywords: 308 age-related macular degeneration • 629 vitreous • 554 retina