Fluorescent angiography - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Fluorescent angiography is an objective diagnostic method based on contrasting of retinal and optic nerve vessels by fluorescein. With the help of this method, you can carefully examine the subtle anatomical details of the fundus, investigate the blood flow in the vessels of the fundus in dystrophic and inflammatory diseases of the retina and choroid, in diabetes mellitus, in glaucoma, in arterial hypertension, in neoplasms of the retina, and this method allows thoroughexamine the iris and conjunctiva in a number of pathologies.

Indications:

1. Diabetic retinopathy.
2. Macular edema.
3. Dystrophies of the retina of various genesis.4. Vascular pathology of the retina.
5. Oncological diseases of the eyes.
6. Various changes in the optic disc.
7. Evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment.

Contraindications:

1. Allergic reactions to the drug fluorescein sodium.
2. Kidney disease with impaired excretory function.
3. Heavy pathology of the liver with a violation of its function.

4. Severe mental illness( study is under anesthesia).
5. Reducing the transparency of optical media( coarse corneal scars, cataracts, opacification of the vitreous humor).
6. Alcohol or narcotic intoxication.

For this procedure it is necessary to enlarge the pupil first. To do this, 15% before the study, 1% of the solution of tropicamide or 0.5% of cyclopentolate is instilled in the conjunctival sac.

The patient sits down in front of the fundus camera and puts his chin on a special stand, and his forehead rests on a special bar. With the help of the fundus camera, a control first photograph of the fundus is made. In the patient's ulnar vein, 5 ml of 10% of the fluorescein sodium solution, a special dye, is injected, which, when examined with the help of the fundus camera, begins to glow. After 5 seconds after insertion, the device starts photographing the retina. Photos are taken every second for 15 seconds. Then, after 1 minute, several photos are taken at intervals of 3-5 seconds, and then after 20 minutes. During this time, several phases of dye circulation in the retina are isolated. Fluorescein does not penetrate through the walls of unchanged vessels of the retina and optic nerve, so in the absence of pathology, retinal tissue does not stain.

In some patients, a fluorescein preparation may cause nausea and vomiting, as well as allergic reactions.

The procedure takes an average of about 30 minutes.

Doctor ophthalmologist Odinochko EA