[Coagulation therapy of senile macular degeneration. II. Extrafoveal choroid neovascularization]

A retrospective study was conducted covering a total of 229 patients with choroidal neovascularizations in age-related maculopathy. Of these patients, 81 had been treated by photocoagulation and 148 had been followed up without treatment. After four years' follow-up of statistically comparable groups the photocoagulation group showed significantly better results than the control group with regard to both final visual acuity (p = 0.01) as well as changes between initial and final visual acuity (p = 0.03). This therapeutic effect of photocoagulation treatment in extrafoveolar choroidal neovascularization was only observed in patients followed up for a maximum of six years (p = 007), while in patients who had been followed up for longer periods of time similar visual results between the coagulation and control groups were found (p = 0.4).