Recent advances in imaging technologies for assessment of retinal diseases

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Retinal imaging is a key investigation in ophthalmology. New devices continue to be created to keep up with the demand for better imaging modalities in this field. This review looks to highlight current trends and the future of retinal imaging.

Areas covered

This review looks at the advances in topographical imaging, photoacoustic microscopy, optical coherence tomography and molecular imaging. There is future scoping on further advances in retinal imaging.

Expert opinion

Retinal imaging continues to develop at a rapid pace to improve diagnosis and management of patients. We will see the development of big data to gain powerful insights and new technologies such as teleophthalmology mature in the future.

Keywords:

• Automation
• Molecular imaging
• Ophthalmology
• Optical coherence tomography
• Retinal diseases
• Retinal imaging
• Teleophthalmology
• Topographical imaging
• Artificial intelligence

Article highlights

• Topographical imaging such as color fundus photography have advanced to meet the demands of diagnosis in ophthalmology, including the implementation of low-cost devices and teleophthalmology

• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) improvements have occurred in OCT angiography, swept source OCT, wide-field imaging, intraoperative OCT and automation

• Molecular imaging may represent a new avenue in diagnosis of retinal pathology

• New imaging technologies will help to meet the demand to ophthalmological services worldwide

Declaration of Interest

M.F. Cordeiro is a named co-inventor on granted patent EP 2231199B1 and published patent WO 2011055121 A1 owned by UCL and related to DARC technology. The other authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer Disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.