Types of Wet AMD
Classic
In this form the blood vessels are often seen most clearly on the angiogram. The total extent of the membrane is easily identified and it is obvious that the lesion is very "leaky". In its purest form this type of pattern is seen in about 20% of wet AMD cases. People with pure classic membrane often experience rapidly progressive central vision loss.
Occult
In this form the angiogram does not show well-defined blood vessels, instead what we see is poorly defined membranes without any single identifiable blood vessels with an often blurry margin making it difficult to tell exactly how big the problem really is. These membranes are also leaky but not quite as much as in classic type. This type of membrane is seen in around 75-80% of wet AMD patients.
It is quite common for these two different patterns of membrane formation to be present in the same eye at the same time. In these situations we try to work out what proportion of the whole lesion is classic versus occult as this may have a major bearing on what treatment opportunities are available.
We also use the angiogram to determine whether the membrane is affecting the very centre of the macula or not. The centre of the macula is called the "fovea centralis".
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