Quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography of vascular abnormalities in the living human eye

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1500185112
• Publication Date: 2015-04-21T02:51:43Z
• Authors: Yali Jia; Steven T. Bailey; Thomas S. Hwang; Scott M. McClintic; Simon S. Gao; Mark E. Pennesi; Christina J. Flaxel; Andreas K. Lauer; David J. Wilson; Joachim Hornegger; James G. Fujimoto; David Huang
• Keywords: Diabetic Retinopathy; Eye Diseases; Choroid; Fundus Oculi; Retinal Vessels; Choroidal Neovascularization; Perfusion; Macular Degeneration; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Vascular Diseases; Fluorescein Angiography; Algorithms; Choroideremia; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Cell Proliferation; Fluorescent Dyes

Significance Retinal vascular diseases are a leading cause of blindness. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become the standard imaging modality for evaluating fluid accumulation in these diseases and for guiding treatment. However, fluorescein angiography (FA) is still required for initial evaluation of retinal ischemia and choroidal neovascularization, which are not visible in conventional structural OCT. The limitations of FA include poor penetration of fluorescence through blood and pigment, inability to determine the depth of the pathology due to its two-dimensional nature, and some uncommon but potentially severe complications. As a noninvasive three-dimensional alternative, OCT angiography may be used in routine screening and monitoring to provide new information for clinical diagnosis and management.