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OCT overtaking angiography for evaluating wet AMD treatment effects
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NEW YORK — Within several years, spectral domain optical coherence tomography could become the gold standard for imaging both dry and wet age-related macular degeneration, according to a specialist speaking here.
Philip J. Rosenfeld, MD, discussed the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) technologies for imaging AMD in a presentation at Columbia University's Imaging and Visual Diagnostics: State of the Art meeting.
He said fluorescein angiography (FA) was once used frequently in managing AMD patients, but as OCT technology grows more sophisticated, the role of FA is diminishing. However, FA remains useful for managing patients with other retinal pathologies, he noted.
"What I find so interesting today is [that] we have not really discussed fluorescein angiography all that much in an imaging meeting, and that's perhaps because it really has been surpassed in this day and age with OCT," Dr. Rosenfeld said. "It really hit with OCT headlong in about 2001, 2002."
Dr. Rosenfeld also reviewed findings from the PrONTO study, which used OCT imaging to evaluate the effects of treatment with ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) in 40 patients. He said the results suggest that OCT is a "useful tool" for assisting re-treatment decisions for patients with neovascular AMD.