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Long-term Follow-up of Macular Translocation With 360° Retinotomy for Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Sabine Aisenbrey, MD;
Karl Ulrich Bartz-Schmidt, MD;
Peter Walter, MD;
Ralf Dieter Hilgers, PhD;
Helen Ayertey, MD;
Peter Szurman, MD;
Gabriele Thumann, MD
Arch Ophthalmol. 2007;125(10):1367-1372.
Objective To assess long-term functional and morphological changes after macular translocation in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration.
Methods Evaluation of a noncomparative cohort study of 90 patients with a follow-up of 14 to 79 months (mean, 38.2 months).
Results Visual acuity increased by 3 or more lines in 15 patients, remained stable in 35 patients, and deteriorated in 40 patients at final examination. Pigment epithelium atrophy extending to the new fovea was detected in 44 patients; in 25 patients this new atrophy was associated with loss of visual function.
Conclusions Long-term follow-up of macular translocation with 360° retinotomy showed stabilization or improvement in half of the patients. Progressive atrophy of the pigment epithelium represented one major limiting factor of the beneficial effect of the treatment. Macular translocation may be an option for cases of exudative age-related macular degeneration that are not eligible for or do not respond to alternative treatments.
Author Affiliations: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany (Drs Aisenbrey, Bartz-Schmidt, and Szurman); Department of Ophthalmology, Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF) BIOMAT (Drs Walter and Thumann), and Department of Medical Statistics (Dr Hilgers), Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany (Dr Ayertey).
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