Skip to main content

  • Using Multicolor Imaging to Detect Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

    By Jean Shaw
    Selected By: Andrew P. Schachat, MD
    Add to My Bookmarks

    Journal Highlights

    Ophthalmology Retina, May 2019

    Download PDF

    Multicolor imaging is a novel tech­nology that can be used to visualize pathology in the posterior pole. Images are produced separately from three color wavelengths and can be combined to produce a composite image. Tan et al. evaluated the ability of multicolor imaging to discern features of polypoi­dal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) and compared those results with those seen on standard color fundus photography and indocyanine green (ICG) angiog­raphy, the gold standard. They found that multicolor imaging could detect features suggestive of PCV, making it a useful noninvasive imaging option, particularly if ICG angiography is not available.

    For this cross-sectional study, the researchers assessed 50 consecutive treatment-naive patients (50 eyes) with PCV. Patients were evaluated with mul­tiple imaging technologies, including multicolor imaging, fluorescein and ICG angiography, and color fundus photography. Each patient underwent all imaging modalities on the same day. One eye was selected for analysis. The color fundus and ICG angiography images were independently graded by retina specialists to identify the pres­ence of polyps and distinguish lesion components.

    Overall, the researchers found that the location and shape of lesions detect­ed with multicolor imaging correlated well with those seen on color fundus photography and ICG angiography. Multicolor imaging was able to detect polyps in 49 of the 50 eyes (98%). Other clinical features detected via multicolor imaging included branching vascular network (BVN, seen in 60% of eyes), drusen (seen in 66% of eyes), and subretinal hemorrhages (seen in 40% of eyes). On the multicolor composite im­ages, the polyps appeared as dark green oval lesions. When infrared reflectance imaging was used, the polyps appeared as dark grey oval lesions with distinct margins. Subretinal hemorrhages ap­peared red on the multicolor composite images, while BVNs typically appeared as an area of mottling.

    The authors noted that optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography were not used in this study, which opens the door to follow-up research on whether the combination of OCT and multimodal imaging would increase diagnostic accuracy.

    The original article can be found here.