![]() He suggests that the technology provides a means of documenting the effect of drug treatment on “a specific CNV membrane in a specific patient, and how long that effect lasts,” thus enabling a means to monitor therapy or determine the need for additional treatment. ![]() Tornambe, MD, FACS, with Retinal Consultants of San Diego, CA, calls these software capabilities a game-changer because they render overlying inner retinal blood-vessel artifacts transparent, thus “allowing for better visualization and more accurate measurement of the outer retina and choroidal structures, essential in treating the abnormal blood-vessel growth (CNV membrane) that leads to blindness for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD),” he explains. Thus, 3D PAR technology forms the basis for accurate qualitative image interpretation and reliable measurements. These shadows hamper accurate interpretation of whether, and how much, abnormal vessel growth is actually present in the specific layers. Projection artifacts, inherent in all OCTA technology, occur when ghost images of blood vessels that exist in one retinal layer are projected onto other layers. The company’s three-dimensional (3D) projection artifact removal software, 3D PAR, also received FDA clearance, promising greater enhancement of outcomes. AngioAnalytics software also provides trend analysis, allowing physicians to objectively monitor retinal and vascular changes caused by disease progression or from treatment. Together, the hardware and software create color-coded maps of vessel densities in the retina or optic nerve, and analyses of areas of blood-vessel loss (nonperfusion), abnormal blood-vessel growth (flow area), and several parameters to assess change to the foveal avascular zone, an area of the retina profoundly affected by diabetic retinopathy (see figure). Objectivity, analysis, artifact removalĪngioAnalytics adds objective data and analysis to OCTA data produced by Optovue’s AngioVue instrument. 1 But without quantitation, its data are open to interpretation. OCTA is a high-resolution functional imaging technique that promises to impact ophthalmology as dramatically in the coming decade as OCT changed the field over the past decade. ![]() The newly approved technology provides objective measurement of treatment efficacy for progressive sight-robbing diseases, and thereby promises “truly customized patient management and improved patient care,” Wei says. FDA 510(k) clearance in June 2018, three years after the FDA cleared the foundational OCTA technique for ophthalmology. The industry’s first OCTA blood-vessel-measurement technology-Optovue’s AngioAnalytics-won U.S. Optical coherence tomography angiography ( OCTA) has achieved another milestone: mainstreaming of quantification-which Jay Wei, founder and CEO of OCTA instrumentation developer Optovue (Fremont, CA), calls “the gateway to widespread and global adoption of OCTA.” ![]()
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