ICG ANIOGRAPHY REMAINS VALUABLE

Despite its recognized limitations, indocyanine green (ICG) angiography is still useful diagnostic technology in 2016, said Daniela Ferrara, MD, PhD, at WOC2016 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

During a symposium on innovations for the diagnosis and imaging of vitreoretinal diseases, Dr. Ferrara, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, provided evidence to support her conclusion by presenting findings from ICG angiography, en face OCT, and OCT angiography in a series of cases representing the polychoroid spectrum of diseases of the macula.

She acknowledged that ICG angiography is invasive and time-consuming. In addition, the bidimensional nature of the exam creates a fundamental limitation in terms of its capability of identifying certain changes.

However, relative to OCT imaging, ICG angiography is much less prone to blockage artifacts, motion or projection artifacts, segmentation errors, and limitations associated with blood flow velocity that is below the range captured by the technology.

“There are potential solutions for all of the critical limitations of OCT angiography, and they are currently being developed,” said Dr. Ferrara. “While we are in the transition phase towards a reliable and fully noninvasive clinical assessment, however, ICG angiography can be especially useful in the investigation of challenging choroidal retinal diseases, and it can definitely assist in the interpretation of en face OCT and OCT angiography.”