My team and I have been using the CIRRUS prototype on an almost daily basis for the past few months to study eyes that we suspect of having macular or retinal pathology. High-definition OCT angiography (OCT-A) enables us to conduct an exploratory examination of what we think may be abnormal pathology in the posterior pole.

We find the CIRRUS OCT-A device most useful in cases of diabetic macular edema and retinal vein occlusion, where we can easily see if there is perfusion or non-perfusion involving the macula and/or the border of the macular zone. Non-perfusion that is very close to the fovea is invisible with ophthalmoscopy, but it is easily viewed with OCT-A on the CIRRUS device. The 3-D image is of such high quality that we often do not need to use fluorescein angiography. It helps us detect DME and RVOs more easily than we could previously.

HOW DO YOU ENVISION USING OCT-A IN YOUR DAILY PRACTICE?

We plan to use CIRRUS OCT-A as a tool for imaging the retina in addition to fundus photography and our usual OCT examination with Bscan and mapping. With OCT-A on the CIRRUS device, we can better evaluate whether a patient with macular vascular disease has a chance of visual improvement with injections, or if the prognosis is poor. For example, if a macula’s perfusion is poor, then we can expect the potential for visual recovery to be poor as well.

HOW EASY IS OCT-A IMAGE ACQUISITION WITH THE CIRRUS HD-OCT?

The image acquisition process is extremely quick and intuitive. The eye tracker works in concert with the high-speed processor to capture an image in less than 1 minute. My technicians and I have not had any problems acquiring an image with the OCT-A prototype; it is very simple.

Even if the eye’s fixation is poor, the eye tracker is so adept that we almost always get a good-quality image. 

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT OCT-A TECHNOLOGY?

My team and I are enjoying exploring the capabilities of this new technology, OCT-A, on the CIRRUS HD-OCT, and we are learning how the images correlate with other technologies. For example, we have captured some very nice images of the vascular network in eyes with wet AMD, and we are studying how these images correlate with B-scan images. We would like to determine whether there are signs of pathology visible on the OCT-A before they appear on B-scan or OCT mapping. Diabetic retinopathy and CNV in myopic eyes are also areas among others where OCT-A appears to be extremely helpful.