[Pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration].

Age-related macular degeneration is a multiform disease of the macula, the region responsible for detailed central vision. In recent years, plenty of new knowledge of the pathogenesis of this disease has been obtained, and the treatment of exudative macular degeneration has greatly progressed. The number of patients with age-related macular degeneration will multiply in the following decades, because knowledge of mechanisms of development of macular degeneration that could be subject to therapeutic measures is insufficient. Central underlying factors are genetic inheritance, exposure of the retina to chronic oxidative stress and accumulation of inflammation-inducing harmful proteins into or outside of retinal cells.