Discrepancies between Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography and Fluorescein Angiography in Detecting Uveitic Macular Edema

Abstract

AIM: To compare spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) with fluorescein angiography (FA) in detecting macular edema in patients with uveitis and analyse discrepancies in the findings obtained by the two methods. METHODS: The study included 133 eyes from 117 patients with uveitis that had SD-OCT (RTVue-100/ Optovue) and FA (Topcon TRC 50DX) scans performed to detect or rule out macular edema. RESULTS: Macular edema was found in 57 (42.9%) of the 133 surveyed eyes. In 37 eyes (27.8%) macular edema was confirmed by both imaging methods. In 17 eyes (12.8%) macular edema was detected on SD-OCT but not on FA;in 15 eyes of these the edema was diffuse, and in 2 eyes - serous retinal detachment was verified in the macular area. Focal macular edema was detected on FA in three eyes (2.3%) in which SD-OCT showed normal finding. In 76 eyes (57.1%) no pathological changes in the macula were observed on both SD-OCT and FA. Kappa coefficient was 0.675 at p < 0.001. The agreement rate between the two methods calculated using Kendall's tau-b was 0.693 at p < 0.001. CONCLUSION: Fluorescein angiography and spectral domain optical coherence tomography are highly sensitive methods used in detecting macular edema in patients with uveitis, but they might fail to be efficient in this if used independently. Optical coherence tomography is a more informative method, especially in diagnosing diffuse macular edema.