BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
The Retinal Function Imager (RFI) (Optical Imaging, Rehovot, Israel) is a novel method for assessing retinal blood flow characteristics and demonstrating the dynamics of fine retinal vasculature. The authors report a new pattern of retinal blood flow in five patients with idiopathic juxtafoveal telangiectasia (IJT) type 2.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Retinal circulation is imaged using the RFI as a series of high-speed stroboscopically captured fundus photographs. Proprietary software aligns the images, allowing serial subtraction, and creates short video loops that show movement of red blood cells in the small and medium size retinal blood vessels.
RESULTS
Ten eyes of five patients with IJT type 2 were examined. In all cases, the RFI demonstrated a common pattern of centripetal vascular flow in the region of telangiectasia. This pattern is unique in its configuration of vascular flow into the focus of the area of telangiectasia. This pattern could not be appreciated on fluorescein angiography.
CONCLUSION
The RFI can detect the specific vascular pattern of the retinal blood flow in eyes of patients with IJT. The ability to characterize such blood flow patterns may aid in identification of ambiguous cases of IJT when the diagnosis is not straightforward.
[Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging 2010;41:413-417.]
AUTHORS
From the Retina Center, Department of Ophthalmology, The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York; and the Department of Ophthalmology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.
Originally submitted May 16, 2009. Accepted for publication December 8, 2009. Posted online March 30, 2010.
The authors have no financial or proprietary interest in the materials presented herein.
Address correspondence to Richard B. Rosen, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, 310 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003.
doi: 10.3928/15428877-20100325-04
