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Retinal imaging involves creating a two-dimensional image of the three-dimensional 3D retinal tissue. Such retinal imaging techniques are indispensable for diagnosis and management of disease processes in ophthalmic practice. These help ophthalmic practitioners directly to view the retinal disease and plan treatment according to the pathology. Retinal imaging techniques are useful in diagnosis and management of ocular and systemic disorders like diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, vascular pathologies vascular occlusions, vasculitis, etc , retinal detachments, glaucomas, systemic infections, leukemias, systemic malignancies with ocular metastasis, and others.
Dating back to the early 20th century, ophthalmologists relied upon the tedious process of capturing fundus images and fundus fluorescein angiography FFA on film rolls. The late 20th century and earlier part of 21st century saw advancements in retinal imaging techniques. Since the advent of digital imaging, all traditional fundus cameras have been replaced by digital systems.
The most impactful advancement in the recent years in retinal imaging has been the introduction of Optical Coherence Tomography OCT.
Since its introduction in the s, much has changed in our understanding of many retinochoroidal diseases, in our approach to management of common conditions and in our definitions of treatment success and end-point in a lot of those diseases. In many instances, OCT has obviated the need for repeated fluorescein angiography for continued management decisions. High speed OCT machines make it possible to acquire large number of A-scans and to convert them into highly resolved volume data.
