Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the prevalence of peripheral fundus autofluorescence (FAF) abnormalities in known disease entities using an ultra-widefield greenlight scanning laser ophthalmoscope (532 nm, P200AF).
Methods: :
A retrospective analysis was performed on images of patients seen at the Doheny Eye Institute Retina Service from November 2009 to March 2010. Cases were grouped by diagnosis. Areas of FAF were qualitatively graded as increased or decreased as compared to background FAF and correlated with color fundus photographs, and other conventional FAF instruments. Characteristic patterns of peripheral FAF were identified.
Results: :
A total of 225 eyes were evaluated. Major disease groups included age-related macular degeneration (n=45), inflammatory disease (n=60), ocular tumors (n=9), central serous retinopathy (n=11), and retinal degenerations (n=32). In 173 eyes (76.9 %), peripheral changes were detected outside the central 30° field of view. Some conditions such as inflammatory diseases appeared to have characteristic FAF changes. FAF abnormalities often correlated with pigmentary abnormalities noted on color photographs, but the changes were typically more striking or extensive on FAF.
Conclusions: :
Ultra-widefield autofluorescence imaging enables the identification of previously undetected peripheral autofluorescence abnormalities. These changes may be a value in diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression, but require validation in future studies.
Keywords: imaging/image analysis: clinical • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • image processing