IDENTIFICATION OF POSTERIOR SEGMENT PATHOLOGY WITH EN FACE RETINAL IMAGING USING MULTICOLOR CONFOCAL SCANNING LASER OPHTHALMOSCOPY.

PURPOSE

To assess posterior segment findings on multicolor confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy by correlation with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to quantify agreement between these imaging modalities.

METHODS

Retrospective review of 159 eyes of 96 consecutive patients who underwent concurrent imaging with multicolor confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and SD-OCT. Positive percent agreement and negative percent agreement were calculated for each finding identified on infrared, green, blue, and multicolor reflectance images using SD-OCT as a comparator.

RESULTS

Infrared reflectance best detected outer retinal and choroidal findings such as choroidal lesions, retinal pigment epithelium atrophy, peripapillary atrophy, and drusen (positive percent agreement 100, 92, 92, and 67%, respectively). Inner retinal changes including epiretinal membrane, lamellar macular hole, and inner retinal alterations were best detected on blue reflectance (positive percent agreement 94, 50, and 100%, respectively). Composite multicolor reflectance most effectively detected conditions with retinal elevation, including pigment epithelial detachment, intraretinal fluid, and subretinal fluid (positive percent agreement 65, 49, and 54%, respectively). Multicolor confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy detected intraretinal and subretinal hemorrhages, which were not detected on SD-OCT (negative percent agreement 87 and 97%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Multicolor confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy is capable of identifying posterior segment pathology at various anatomical depths and may be a useful adjunct to SD-OCT for detecting or monitoring certain retinal conditions.