Prolific research from ZEISS Medical Technology at the recent 2015 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Denver highlights the company’s standing as the leader in OCT technology and innovation


DUBLIN, CA USA

Nearly two decades ago, ZEISS was the first company to introduce optical coherence tomography (OCT) for clinical use in ophthalmology and optometry. The 20 presentations on OCT angiography by ZEISS and its research collaborators at this year’s ARVO meeting in May are testament to the company’s dedication to continued innovation and advancing the practice of medicine.

ZEISS is developing OCT angiography for both spectral domain (SD) and swept source platforms. The OCT angiography application on the SD platform is currently under FDA review and is 510(k) pending.

“The en face angiograms from the ZEISS SD-OCT angiography prototype show me a detailed picture of the retinal vasculature of the macula. Being able to visualize so quickly areas of macular ischemia in my diabetic retinopathy patients, without the use of a contrast agent, could really help me more easily determine which diabetic macular edema patients are eligible for treatment,” said Professor Jean-Francois Korobelnik, chief of the Ophthalmology Service at the Bordeaux Central University Hospital in Bordeaux, France, who has been conducting investigative research on OCT angiography in collaboration with ZEISS.

OCT Angiography: Improved Visualization
Progression of eye disease in the posterior segment is often accompanied by changes in the retinal vasculature. Fluorescein angiography (FA) has been the gold-standard imaging modality for visualizing such changes. However, FA has two limitations: it requires the use of an injected contrast agent, and it captures the entire retinal vascular volume without the ability to segment imaged features by their depth. 

OCT angiography aims to address these limitations by enabling easy, high-resolution depth resolved visualization of the separate layers of the retinal and choroidal vasculature. Without the need for a contrast agent, OCT angiography offers doctors a quick and relatively low-risk alternative to FA to clearly visualize blood flow. OCT angiography detects motion of scattering particles such as red-blood cells within sequential OCT B-scans performed repeatedly at the same location of the retina. ZEISS is able to utilize its retinal tracking system, FastTrac™, to provide motion-artifact-free images of the perfused retina.

One study presented at ARVO by ZEISS and its research collaborators directly compared OCT angiography (using a prototype based on the CIRRUS HD-OCT 5000) with fluorescein angiography (FA) imaging, in a subject who had diabetic retinopathy. There was a clear correlation between the OCT angiography and fluorescein images, plus OCT angiography was found to reveal much clearer microvascular details. OCT angiography also provided depth resolved information that was not available with FA.

The OCT angiography research from ZEISS at ARVO featured collaboration with researchers from leading institutions, including UCLA, the University of Miami Health System, the University of Southern California and the University of Washington.

“It is an exciting time in ophthalmology with the advent of OCT angiography. It allows us to quickly and comfortably visualize the vasculature of the retina without introducing the risks associated with a contrast agent,” said Giovanni Staurenghi, professor of ophthalmology and chairman of the University Eye Clinic at Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, Italy, who is conducting OCT angiography research in conjunction with ZEISS.