Discrepancy between fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography in detection of macular disease.
OBJECTIVE
To compare high-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescein angiography (FA) in detection of macular edema (ME) of various etiologies.


METHODS
In a retrospective study over a 12-month period at one retina center, data for consecutive eyes that had undergone simultaneous conventional FA (HRA; Heidelberg Engineering, Vista, CA) and StratusOCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) to rule out ME were reviewed. A subset of patients underwent additional examination with extremely high-resolution (6-microm)/ultrahigh-speed spectral OCT/scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (OTI, Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada).


RESULTS
Of 1,272 eyes, 1,208 (94.97%) had the finding of ME or subretinal fluid confirmed by both techniques. There were 49 eyes (3.86%) for which FA showed dye leakage in the macular area and OCT showed normal foveal contour. Of 10 eyes in this group that underwent imaging with ultrahigh-speed spectral OCT/scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, 8 had subtle diffuse lucencies in the retina. For 15 eyes (1.17%), OCT showed intraretinal and subretinal fluid, which was missed by FA.


CONCLUSIONS
Both FA and high-resolution OCT are highly sensitive techniques and correlate well in detection of ME. However, there is a small chance that when performed alone they might miss existing subtle ME.
Kozak
Igor
I
Jacobs Retina Center at Shiley Eye Center, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
Morrison
Victoria L
VL
Clark
Thomas M
TM
Bartsch
Dirk-Uwe
DU
Lee
Byung Ro
BR
Falkenstein
Iryna
I
Tammewar
Ajay M
AM
Mojana
Francesca
F
Freeman
William R
WR
D002199:Capillary Permeability; D005122:Exudates and Transudates; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence