[Clinical applications of OCT angiography]

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Angiography

Background:

• Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) provides noninvasive, depth-selective 3D visualization of retinal and choroidal vasculature.
• It detects endoluminal blood flow, generating high-resolution images surpassing conventional fluorescein angiography.
• OCT-A enables visualization of microperfusion and its alterations in various pathologies and during therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of the wide range of clinical applications for OCT-A.
• To highlight the advantages of OCT-A over traditional fluorescein angiography.
• To discuss the interpretation and clinical utility of OCT-A in ophthalmology.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Spectralis OCT-2 prototype for OCT-A imaging.
• Employed an increased A-scan rate of 70 kHz for high-resolution OCT volume scans.

Main Results:

• Identified diverse applications including neovascular AMD, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular occlusion, inflammatory diseases, and telangiectasia.
• Demonstrated significant differences in image interpretation compared to fluorescein angiography, notably the absence of blockage phenomena.
• Highlighted OCT-A's potential as a substitute for invasive fluorescein angiography, offering more detailed insights.

Conclusions:

• OCT-A enables high-resolution visualization and layer-specific segmentation of retinal and choroidal vascular networks.
• It effectively shows microperfusion alterations in various diseases.
• Clinical evaluation of OCT-A image interpretation and applications is ongoing.