The Use of Triamcinolone as a Contrast Agent for Intrasurgical OCT

Abstract

 

Purpose:

 

To ascertain the feasibility of using triamcinolone as a contrast agent for an intrasurgical OCT in order to increase the visibility of the layers of the posterior hyaloid.

 

Methods:

 

Using a Carl Zeiss Meditec Cirrus HD-OCT which was adapted to the optical pathway of a Zeiss OPMI VISU 200 surgical microscope, 512x128 macular cube scans and HD 5-line scans were performed at various steps of vitreoretinal surgery. After core vitrectomy, triamcinolone was injected into the bulbus in order to increase the visibility of the laminar structures of the residual posterior hyaloid in the OCT. The acquired volume data was post processed and visualized using a ray-traced three dimensional display system created in the C++ based object oriented programming language COFFEE (Maxon Inc.TM). Informed consent had been collected from all patients.

 

Results:

 

42 OCT scans were performed of 10 patients after intrasurgical injection of triamcinolone. In all cases it was possible to increase the visibility of the remnants of the posterior hyaloid in a surgical setting.

 

Conclusions:

 

Triamcinolone is a good contrast agent for the intrasurgical evaluation of the posterior hyaloid using an OCT.  

 

Keywords: image processing • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • retina