title: Optical coherence angiography: A review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Retinal vascular diseases are one of the most common causes of blindness in the developed world. Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) is a new noninvasive method that uses several algorithms to detect blood movement. This enables the creation of high-resolution vascular images with contrast depicting motionless tissue.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review presents the results of articles relevant to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and OCT-A. The OCT-A technique can successfully be used in the diagnosis of neovascularization, retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and retinal artery occlusion (RAO), vessel abnormalities and even anterior segment neovascularization. OCT-A can also be applied to compute data such as vessel density, and flow index in both superficial and deep plexuses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many studies have compared fluorescein angiography with OCT-A. Other studies have reported differences in vascular density in AMD patients and have compared them with people having healthy eyes. Although OCT-A offers rapid picture acquisition, high repeatability and resolution, it also has many drawbacks. The most common are: motion artifacts, projections from overlying vessels and limited field of view.An interesting new application is the possibility to assess changes during antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy. Another function of OCT-A is the possible application in the study of choriocapillaries in many fields of ocular pathology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OCT-A is a new promising method that allows the visualization of the retinal vascular network and the counting of blood flow parameters. This technique provides reliable images useful in clinical routines.
authors.affiliation: Departament of Ophthalmology, Santa Barbara Hospital, Sosnowiec Ophthalmology Clinic, Railway Hospital Katowice, II School of Medicine with the Division of Dentistry in Zabrze, Silesian Medical University, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wylęgała
authors.forename: Sławomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teper
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dobrowolski
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wylęgała
mesh_terms: D005451:Fluorescein Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*