COPHy 2023: Importance of OCTA in clinical practice

Angela Carneiro, MD, PhD, made a presentation at the Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology. She discusses her position on a discussion titled Presence of Macular Neovascularization on OCTA is Predictive of Subsequent Exudation with David Hutton, Executive Editor, Ophthalmology Times®.

Video transcript

Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for clarity.

David Hutton:

I'm David Hutton of Ophthalmology Times®. The 14th annual Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology is being held this year in Lisbon, Portugal. At the event, physicians will discuss the pros and cons of a number of topics. Dr. Angela Carneiro, presented the affirmative position on a discussion titled Presence of Macular Neovascularization on OCTA is Predictive of Subsequent Exudation. Thank you so much for joining us today. Tell us a little bit about your discussion.

Angela Carneiro, MD, PhD:

Thank you for the invitation. This topic is very important because it's about the importance of OCTA in clinical practice, and about a new concept-the concept of non-exudative macular neovascularization. So we have a lot of patients that have no vascular membranes in their eyes and they are asymptomatic. They don't know that they have already vascular changes. So ,we can see those membranes very well with OCTA and it is very important to follow these patients because there is a rate of conversion that is not completely established, but it ranks for a low number until 80%. That is a really high number, a really high rate of compression to exudative AMD. So, if we follow all of these patients in the first month after the finding of neovascularization with OCTA and with OCT, we can detect early the development of exudation and we can treat these patients. That can be very important for the good treatment of patients with exudative AMD. We know that early treatment is fundamental to obtain good visual outcomes. So it is very important.

*Stephan Michels, MD, presented the opposing viewpoint on this topic. He was not available for a video interview.