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Senile Choroidal Atrophy
Author(s) -
Sarks S. H.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
australian journal of opthalmology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.3
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1442-9071
pISSN - 0310-1177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9071.1974.tb00197.x
Subject(s) - choroid , fundus (uterus) , medicine , retinal pigment epithelium , pathological , retinal , retina , depigmentation , drusen , ophthalmology , pathology , atrophy , anatomy , biology , dermatology , neuroscience
S ummary I ncreased prominence of the choroidal vessels is observed more frequently in the elderly. In a clinical survey of 696 patients aged fifty years and over, an exaggerated tigroid appearance was noted in the fundi of 149 patients (21–4%), the incidence rising sharply after the age of seventy‐five. The pathological significance of this finding is not clearly understood. In younger patients the tigroid fundus results from deep pigmentation of the intervascular spaces without being sufficiently dense to also obscure the vascular pattern. However, in the elderly the heightened prominence of the vessels is believed to be due to loss of pigment from the retinal pigment epithelium. Although a clinical disturbance of retinal pigmentation occurred almost twice as frequently in senile eyes with tigroid fundi as compared with the non‐tigroid appearance, pathological studies suggest that the greater visibility of the choroidal vessels is due to thinning of the choroid. Disturbance of retinal pigmentation and atrophy of the choroid may develop independently but both processes are commonly found in association. When circumscribed areas of depigmentation occur, direct visualization of the underlying choroid is possible. The clinical appearance of the exposed vessels was found to vary according to the degree of attenuation of the choroid. The white fibrotic appearance known as choroidal sclerosis results when the remaining vessels occupy the full thickness of the atrophic choroid.