Ophthalmologica update: the peer-reviewed journal of EURETINA

  THE BLOOD-RETINAL BARRIER REVISITED This issue of Ophthalmologica features the text of Prof José Cunha-Vaz’s EURETINA Medal Lecture, which he presented at the 16th EURETINA Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. It explores the role of the blood-retinal barrier (BRB) in retinal disease. Prof Cunha-Vaz provides a review from the earliest discovery of the BRB to the modern understanding of the pathological mechanisms underlying conditions such as retinal oedema, and exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which results directly from breakdown of the BRB. He also highlights research showing the potential of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) for non-invasively identifying and quantifying sites of OCT-Leakage. J Cunha-Vaz, “The Blood-Retinal Barrier in the Management of Retinal Disease: EURETINA Award Lecture”; Ophthalmologica 2017, Volume 237, Issue 1.   BETTER CLASSIFICATION REQUIRED FOR GA The term ‘geographic atrophy’ has been rendered imprecise by the advance of the technologies used to diagnose the various conditions it is it has been used to define, according to Steffen Schmitz-Valckenberg MD. In a wide-ranging article, he traces the origin of the term and describes the different forms of retinal atrophy that have become known since the advent of modern imaging technologies and DNA analysis. Noting that the treatment of the conditions has fallen behind that of neovascular AMD, he argues that the time has come to take a closer look different forms of atrophy development, manifestation, and progression in dry AMD, a more rational approach to their nomenclature and classification. S Schmitz-Valckenberg, “The Journey of “Geographic Atrophy” Through Past, Present and Future”; Ophthalmologica 2017, Volume 237, Issue 1.   OCT PROVIDES USEFUL VISUALISATION OF FAZ AREA AngioPlex SD-OCT-angiography (Zeiss) can provide highly reliable measurements of the foveal avascular zone area, a new study suggests. The study’s authors carried out three consecutive foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area measurements in 25 eyes of 22 individuals with the AngioPlex OCT. Two experienced observers assessed the scans and obtained mean measurements of 0.373 mm2 and 0.377 mm2, respectively. The repeatability assessment of the FAZ area measurements yielded coefficient of variation (CoV) values of 0.029 and 0.034 and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) values of 0.997 and 0.996 by observers one and two, respectively. The mean difference between the two observers was 0.004 and the inter-observer concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) reproducibility values ranged from 0.9705 to 0.9844. J Guo et al, “Repeatability and Reproducibility of Foveal Avascular Zone Area Measurements Using AngioPlex Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Healthy Subjects”; Ophthalmologica 2017, Volume 237 Issue 1.

Tags: retina