Coat's disease. An epidemiologic and Fluorescein angiographic study.

Coats' disease represents a disorder of the retinal vascular walls. In a series of 112 consecutive eyes with Coats' disease the involvement was unilateral in 90.2%. The majority (72%) of patients were male. 57.8% were under 20 years of age. There was, however, a second peak of the disease (30.4%) between the age of 41 and 60. Severe cases were found mainly among juvenile patients, whereas in the senile group milder cases prevailed. Fluorescein angiographic findings comprised vascular aneurysms in almost all cases, rarefaction and coarsening of the capillary bed in 71%, capillary occlusions in 70%, occlusions of arterioles or arteries in 27%, shunt formations in 27%, extensive widening of arteries or veins in 27% and leakage of dye mainly in advanced cases. The participation of the central retina in the disease process was variable. Evidence is presented that Leber's military aneurysm retinitis is not a separate entity but a special form of Coats' disease.