Angioid Streaks |
Angioid streaks are bilateral, narrow, irregular lines deep to the retina configured in a radiating fashion emanating from the optic disc, which result from breaks in a weakened Bruch's membrane.
Systemic diseases associated with angioid streaks include:
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum
Ehler Danlos syndrome
Paget's disease of the bone
Sickle cell anaemia
Thalassemia
If the ophthalmologist establishes a new diagnosis of angioid streaks, and the patient is not known to have any of the aforementioned conditions, the patient should be referred for work-up and management of the pos si ble under lying systemic disease.
Angioid streaks usually are asymptomatic unless they are subfoveal. Visual disturbances may develop due to submacular hemorrhage resulting from trauma, but these disturbances may resolve spontaneously if there is no CNV. The most significant visual complication is the development of CNV.
Safety glasses are an advisable precaution for patients with angioid streaks because they can be highly susceptible to choroidal rupture following even minor blunt injury.
When CNV develops, treatment with anti- VEGF agents has supplanted the use of
laser treatment or PDT.