Atrophic maculopathy associated with hereditary ataxia

Abstract

Two siblings had atrophic maculopathy associated with hereditary ataxia clinically defined as an olivopontocerebellar degeneration. The macular changes were suggestive of an early bull's-eye maculopathy in one case and of a late atrophic stage of bull's-eye maculopathy in the other. This suggests that concentric annular (bull's-eye) macular dystrophy may occur as part of olivopontocerebellomacular degeneration. Exogenous causes were excluded. The inheritance pattern was autosomal recessive or irregular autosomal dominant. The relationship of these two degenerative disorders is not yet clear. This combination of findings has been, to our knowledge, only rarely described.