Coats disease is an idiopathic entity, characterized by unilateral abnormal telangiectatic or aneurismal retinal vessels associated with intraretinal and subretinal lipid deposits.
Coats is predominantly a disease of childhood. Males are affected up to four times as frequently as females.
The disease is classified into three groups. Group I has massive subretinal exudates, no vascular abnormalities, and a choroidal mononuclear infiltrate. Group II also has massive subretinal exudates, retinal vascular abnormalities and no choroidal mononuclear infiltrate. Group III again has massive exudates with arteriovenous malformations.
Differential Diagnosis of Childhood Disease (Leukocoria or Exudative Retinal Detachment):
- Acquired peripheral capillary angioma
- Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy
- Incontinentia pigmenti
- Norrie’s disease
- Pars planitis
- Persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous
- Retinitis pigmentosa with Coats-like response
- Retinoblastoma
- Retinopathy of prematurity
- Toxocariasis
- Von Hippel-Lindau (angiomatosis retinae)
