Retinal health checks using latest technology

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) comes under the spotlight in a new book by Professor Gabriel Coscas.

He examines the application of spectral domain OCT and its combination with angiography and also answers many of the questions raised by ophthalmologists following the introduction of the new high resolution OCT devices. There are also new insights and interpretations of retinal diseases.

According to Daniel V. Will, Doody's Review Service, (August, 2009): “This excellent book on age-related macular degeneration is replete with high-resolution images of this complex retinal disease. … Ophthalmology residents and practitioners will benefit from this well organized text-atlas. … This is a very useful text-atlas for ophthalmologists learning to interpret OCT images of patients with age-related macular degeneration. The variety of images and depth of information distinguish this publication from OCT books that focus on a wider spectrum of macular diseases.” To order click here

A second title examining Fundus Autofluorescence by Lois and Forrester is available from Aberdeen at www.fundusautofluorescence.com

Fundus autofluorescence is an emerging imaging modality in both the retinal specialist and generalist practice. It is a non-invasive diagnostic imaging modality that takes advantage of the natural autofluorescence property of the retina. Lipofuscin is a naturally occurring metabolic indicator found in healthy RPE cells. Mapping this compound can provide critical insight to the health of the retina.

Fundus autofluorescence imaging already plays a major role in the diagnosis of dry AMD as well as it serves as predictive factor for the success of the treatment of wet-AMD. Moreover, fundus autofluorescence is being used in pivotal phase 3 trials on drug therapy for dry AMD, which will be an application much bigger then wet-AMD.