Prophylactic laser treatment in early age related maculopathy reduced the incidence of exudative complications

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Abstract
AIM To investigate the effect of prophylactic laser treatment on drusen area and incidence of exudative lesions in patients with soft drusen maculopathy. METHODS In a prospective study, patients with early age related maculopathy (ARM) and good visual acuity were randomised to laser treatment or to a control group. Each group consisted of two subgroups: a fellow eye group and a bilateral drusen group. At 3 years, 36 of 38 enrolled patients remained in the study. Photocoagulation was performed with an argon green laser, approximately 100 mild laser burns being placed on and between the drusen in a perifoveal temporal horseshoe-shaped area. Both cases and controls were subjected to fundus colour photographs and fluorescein angiograms at regular intervals, and the drusen area was calculated in both photographs and angiograms. At baseline, there were no significant differences (p>0.3–0.8) in drusen area between the groups. RESULTS In the treatment group, mean drusen area decreased significantly in the fundus photographs as well as in the angiograms (pCONCLUSION Perifoveal mild laser treatment causes a reduction in drusen area in patients with soft drusen maculopathy and may lower the incidence of exudative lesions.