Abstract
Purpose :
Uveitis is a group of ocular inflammatory diseases that can derive from both infectious and noninfectious causes. This study investigates patients diagnosed with a variety of uveitic diseases utilizing Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Ophthalmoscopy (FLIO).
Methods :
49 eyes of 49 subjects with varying uveitic diseases (mean age 48 ± 19 years) and 49 age-matched healthy subjects (p=0.899) were investigated in this study. Clinical grading of uveitic disease subtypes were confirmed by uveitis specialists (ATV, AS, MBL). FLIO images of a 30° retinal field centered at the fovea were acquired using a prototype Heidelberg Engineering Spectralis-based FLIO. FLIO lifetimes were recorded in short (498-560 nm, SSC) and long (560-720 nm, LSC) spectral wavelength channels, with mean autofluorescence lifetimes (tm) calculated and analyzed.
Results :
FLIO is able to categorize uveitic diseases based on phenotype, and lifetimes of patients with uveitic diseases showed significant prolongation in central, inner and outer ring regions of the ETDRS grid compared to age-matched controls (p=0.03, p=0.006, p=0.003, respectively). FLIO lifetimes were variable depending on the type of disease with shortened lifetimes correlating to regions of active inflammation or in areas adjacent to lesions.
Conclusions :
FLIO can effectively discriminate between various uveitic diseases with high specificity. While prolonged FLIO lifetimes were found in regions of atrophy or scarring, shortened FLIO lifetimes were observed in regions adjacent to lesions and in patients with clinically active ocular inflammation. FLIO may provide insight into understanding these complex diseases, as well as monitoring disease activity, progression, and remission.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.