[Preferred retinal locus in patients with age-related macular degeneration].

Purpose: To evaluate the status and location of the preferred retinal locus(PRL) and visual function in age-related macular degeneration(AMD).

Subjects And Methods: Thirty-five patients were examined. They were diagnosed as having bilateral AMD in the disciform stage. Scanning laser ophthalmoscopic microperimetry was performed to detect the PRL. The retinal conditions of the PRL were classified using color fundus photographs and fluorescein angiography. The eccentricities of PRL from the fovea were measured. The relationships among visual acuity, retinal sensitivity, and the eccentricities of the PRL were evaluated.

Results: In 34 of 35 eyes, PRLs had shifted from an extrafoveal site and were located at the nearest foveal site on the healthy retina or on an atrophic lesion of the retinal pigment epithelium. When it was possible that other lesions were located where the PRL had shifted to, the PRL moved to the upper or temporal retina. The eccentricities of PRLs were 0.5-11 degrees. Visual acuities differed among the same retinal eccentricities.

Conclusions: PRLs shift to the lesion nearest the fovea. These results suggest that visual acuity and retinal sensitivity are determined by the status of the PRL.