SWEPT SOURCE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY OF NEOVASCULAR MACULAR TELANGIECTASIA TYPE 2.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: To image subretinal neovascularization in proliferative macular telangiectasia Type 2 (MacTel2) using swept source optical coherence tomography based microangiography (OMAG).

METHODS: Patients with macular telangiectasia Type 2 were enrolled in a prospective, observational study known as the MacTel Project and evaluated using a high-speed 1,050 nm swept-source OCT prototype system. The OMAG algorithm generated en face flow images from three retinal layers, and the region bounded by the outer retina and Bruch membrane, the choriocapillaris, and the remaining choroidal vasculature. The en face OMAG images were compared with images from fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography.

RESULTS: Three eyes with neovascular macular telangiectasia Type 2 were imaged. The neovascularization was best identified from the en face OMAG images that included a layer between the outer retinal boundary and Bruch membrane. Optical coherence tomography based microangiography images identified these abnormal vessels better than fluorescein angiography and were comparable to the images obtained using indocyanine green angiography. In all 3 cases, OMAG identified choroidal vessels communicating with the neovascularization, and these choroidal vessels were evident in the 2 cases with indocyanine green angiography imaging. In 1 case, monthly injections of bevacizumab reduced the microvascular complexity of the neovascularization, and the telangiectatic changes within the retinal microvasculature. In another case, less frequent bevacizumab therapy was associated with growth of the subretinal neovascular complex.

CONCLUSION: Optical coherence tomography based microangiography imaging provided detailed, depth-resolved information about subretinal neovascularization in macular telangiectasia Type 2 eyes demonstrating superiority to fluorescein angiography imaging, and similarities to indocyanine green angiography imaging for documenting the retinal microvascular changes, the size and extent of the neovascular complex, the communications between the neovascular complex and the choroidal circulation, and the response to monthly bevacizumab therapy.