Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate the visibility of choroidal neovascularizations (CNVs) in patients affected by age related macular degeneration (ARMD) or inflammatory affections by Angio-OCT imaging and to compare findings with fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography (FA and ICGA)
Methods:
Retrospective study. All the patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination including blue autofluorescence (B-FAF), fluorescein (FA) and indocyanine green (ICGA) angiography, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) (HRA + OCT Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) and angio-OCT using AngIoVue technologies (Optovue Inc.)
Results:
20 eyes of 20 patients with CNVs were included in the study: 19 secondary to exudative age-related macular degeneration and one inflammatory. FA was evaluated in order to classify CNVs and to define their activity. 13 eyes displayed CNV type 1 (occult), 4 CNV type 2 (classic), 2 presented a combination of the two (minimally or predominantly classic), and 1 was a CNV type 3 (retinal angiomatous proliferation). On ICGA, CNV complex was visible in 99% of cases, whereas the precise characterization of the vessels belonging to the lesion was possible only in 30% of cases. On Angio-OCT the visibility of the CNV complex was typically better compared with ICGA (100% of cases), particularly allowing a better identification of the neovascular network. On SD-OCT we determined the presence of subretinal fluid or blood and pigmented epithelium detachment (PED) to determine if they reduced the visibility of the net on SSADA. Imaging was not limited by either subretinal fluid or blood while PED produced mild masking
Conclusions:
Angio-OCT represents a novel diagnostic technique capable to perform non-invasive high resolution imaging of the retina and choroid. Further studies are required to study its reproducibility and applications in the clinical scenario