PURPOSE To evaluate the histopathological characteristics of choroidal neovascular membranes excised from eyes of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and to correlate their characteristics with the clinical features of AMD. METHODS Choroidal neovascular tissues were excised from 3 patients with AMD and examined by light and confocal scanning laser microscopy. The clinical fea...

OBJECTIVE To examine if the genes encoding complement factor H (CFH), apolipoprotein E (APOE), and elongation of very-long-chain fatty acids-like 4 (ELOVL4) confer risk of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in an independent or interactive manner when controlling for smoking exposure. METHODS We studied 103 unrelated patients with neovascular AMD who each had at least 1 siblin...

OBJECTIVE To examine the impact of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on angiogenesis in human choroidal neovascular membranes with respect to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, proliferation, and vascularization. METHODS Retrospective review of an interventional case series of 50 patients (50 eyes) who underwent removal of choroidal neovascular membranes. Choroidal neovascularizat...

PURPOSE To compare the central corneal thickness (CCT) measurements of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and control subjects. METHODS The CCT value (measured with ultrasound corneal pachymetry) of 130 eyes (130 patients, 1 eye from each patient) with neovascular AMD (AMD group) and 98 eyes (98 patients, 1 eye from each patient) of similar age, sex, and eye's ax...

PURPOSE. Although stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1 contributes to angiogenesis, its effects on sprouting angiogenesis remain ill defined. The authors investigated how SDF-1 and its receptor, CXCR4, influence neovascular sprouting. METHODS. In vivo retinal vascular development was evaluated and ex vivo retinal angiogenesis induced by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Time-sequential ...

PURPOSE Using a candidate-gene approach, a recent case-control study identified a previously unknown association between neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the coding Met72Thr variant in the pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) gene in a Taiwan Chinese population. However, a subsequent replication study failed to see this association in a white European population. We no...

Diabetic macular edema Macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO) Neovascular (wet) AMD Neovascular glaucoma Pseudoxanthoma elasticum Rare causes of choroidal neovascularization (angioid streaks, choroiditis [including choroiditis secondary to ocular histoplasmosis], idiopathic degenerative myopia, retinal dystrophies, rubeosis iridis, and trauma) Retinopathy of prematurity (stage 3 t...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of legal blindness among older individuals of industrialized countries. In neovascular AMD, which is an advanced stage of AMD, choroidal neovascularization develops underneath the macula and destroys central vision. Oxidative stress is a hypothesized pathway for the pathophysiology of AMD. CD36 was chosen as a candidate gene for neovascu...

Neovascular retinopathies are leading causes of irreversible blindness. Although vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors have been established as the mainstay of current treatment, clinical management of these diseases is still limited. As retinal impairment involves abnormal neovascularization and neuronal degeneration, we evaluated here the involvement of galectin-1 in vascular a...