Widefield imaging of retinal and choroidal tumors

Wide-field imaging plays an increasingly important role in ocular oncology clinics. The purpose of this review is to describe the commonly used wide-field imaging devices and review conditions seen in ocular oncology clinic that underwent wide-field imaging as part of the multimodal evaluation.

Wide-field or wide-angle imaging is defined as greater than 50° field of view. Modern devices can reach far beyond this reporting fields of view up to 267°, when utilizing montage features, with increasingly impressive resolution. Wide-field imaging modalities include fundus photography, fluorescein angiography (FA), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), indocyanine angiography (ICG), spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and recently wide-field OCT Angiography (OCTA). These imaging modalities are increasingly prevalent in practice. The wide-field systems include laser, optical, and lens based systems that are contact or non-contact lens systems each with its own benefits and drawbacks. The purpose of this review is to discuss commonly used wide-field imaging modalities for retinal and choroidal tumors and demonstrate the use of various widefield imaging modalities in select ocular oncology cases.

Clinical examination remains the gold standard for the evaluation of choroidal and retinal tumors. Wide-field imaging plays an important role in ocular oncology for initial documentation, surgical planning, determining the relationship of the tumor to adjacent ocular structures, following tumor size after treatment, and monitoring for recurrence.