[Clinical and angiographical findings of age-related macular degeneration in Senegal. Preliminary results].

INTRODUCTION: Principal cause of legal blindness in industrialized countries, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) have never been studied in West Africa. We report and analyse the clinical and angiographical characteristics of macular degeneration in our patients older than 50 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this prospective study, we recruited during 13 months all patients presenting ARMD signs from our consultation department. Various clinic and angiography parameters were collected. The follow up varied between 6 and 20 months. RESULTS: The prevalence of this pathology was of 6.5 per 1000. Sex ratio was 0.36 and mean age 61.6 years (53 to 80 years). No familial history of ARMD was found. Three patients were more exposed to sun because of their profession, 9 had high blood pressure, 6 were hyperopes and 1 was smoking. A drop of visual acuity was noted in all cases but no metamorphopsies. Signs founded were miliar drusen (20 eyes), serous drusen (4 eyes), association of those two kinds (4 eyes) and retinal pigmented epithelium abnormalities (PE) (8 eyes) alone or associated with drusen. These signs were significant of age-related maculopathy (ARM). The fluorescein angiography confirmed the type of lesions and showed no signs of neovascularization. An aggravation of the pigment migration was noted in one case after 20 months. CONCLUSION: Age related macular degeneration doesn't seem frequent in our population of patients and shows essentially under its initial form of ARM even though facilitating factors seemed identical, excepted tobacco addiction, sun exposition and systemic hypertension. This study which short terms results we are presenting would need to be continue to give more precisions on those data.