Abstract
Purpose :
The clinical role of wide field imaging has yet to be clearly defined and the gold standard of retinal inspection remains the binocular indirect examination. We performed a retrospective chart review to evaluate the trend in utilizing wide-field imaging in a tertiary ophthalmology department. We hypothesize that there will be a significant increase in the number of wide-field photos obtained over time.
Methods :
Imaging of 30-degree and wide field fundus photos; 30-degree and wide field fundus autofluorescence (FAF); and 30-degree and wide field fluorescein angiography (FA) were reviewed from one month (September) in 2013 (after 1 year of initiating the Optos camera [Optos PLC, Dunfermline, UK] at our institution) and 2017. Standard two-tailed t-tests assuming equal variances were performed to compare the results.
Results :
All images from one month in the years 2013 (N=1,258) and 2017 (N=1,469) were reviewed. In 2013, 30-degree fundus photos (N=773, mean 38.65±16.57), wide field fundus photos (N=276, mean 13.80±9.08), 30 degree FAF (N=74, mean 3.70±3.15), wide field FAF (N=46, mean 2.20±2.14), 30-degree FA (N=43, mean 3.58±2.23), and wide field FA (N=46, mean 2.30±2.27) were reviewed. In 2017, 30-degree fundus photos (N=478, mean 23.90±11.19), wide field fundus photos (N=587, mean 29.35±12.67), 30 degree FAF (N=172, mean 9.40±7.20), wide field FAF (N=143, mean 7.15±5.70), 30-degree FA (N=15, mean 2.5±0.84), and wide field FA (N=74, mean 3.70±3.80) were reviewed. There was a significant increase in the number of wide field fundus photos compared to 30-degree fundus photos (p < 0.0001) as well as wide field FAF compared to 30 degree FAF (p < 0.0004). The number of wide field FA increased compared to 30-degree FA although this difference was not significant (p < 0.08).
Conclusions :
Our results are consistent with our hypothesis that over the past 4 years, utilization of wide-field fundus photos has increased tremendously at this academic institution. This suggests that wide field photos have become the new standard method of imaging preferred by ophthalmologists at our institution. Wide-field imaging will likely continue to play an important role in the management of retinal disease in the future although the clinical utility of the information obtained needs to be validated in high quality clinical trials.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.