Characteristics of age-related macular degeneration in patients with diabetic retinopathy

The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). Retrospective, consecutive case series. Twenty-six eyes of 25 Japanese patients were studied. All patients were diagnosed as having exudative AMD with DR. Patients with no apparent DR, dry AMD, neovascular maculopathy associated with high myopia, and age < 50 years were excluded. The clinical characteristics of AMD in patients with DR, e.g., gender, age, stage of DR, and type of AMD were evaluated. In the 26 eyes, 2 eyes (7.7%) were classified as mild nonproliferative DR (NPDR), 7 (27.0%) with moderate NPDR, 16 (61.5%) with severe NPDR and 1 eye (3.8%) with PDR. Of the 26 eyes with exudative AMD, 21 eyes (80.8%) were classified as neovascular AMD, 4 (15.4%) as polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy and 1 eye (3.8%) as a retinal angiomatous proliferation. Among the eyes with neovascular AMD, 9 eyes (42.9%) were classified as predominantly classic choroidal neovascularization (CNV). There is a predominance of men, neovascular AMD and predominantly classic CNV in Japanese AMD patients with DR. The exudative AMD in patients with DR may have different clinical characteristics from those without DR.