Ophthalmic Imaging Flashcards
What is ophthalmic imaging?
The use of special microscopes to look inside your eye. They can now scan your retina to look for any issues
within it
How can opthalmic imaging be used?
to help doctors to diagnose and manage a wide variety of eye conditions.
What does ophthalmic imaging monitor?
Monitors the corneal endothelium. This part of the eye is vital because it governs fluid and solute transport across the posterior surface of the cornea and maintains the cornea in the slightly dehydrated state that is required for optical transparency.
How is ophthalmic imaging carried out?
- Doctor may dilate eyes with special eye drops which widens the pupils and makes it easier to see behind the eye. After, it will take around 20 minutes for the patients eyes to be ready for examination.
- The patient then places their chin and forehead on a support to keep the head steady.
- The patient then opens their eyes as wide as possible and stares straight ahead at an object while a laser scans the eyes.
- The images of the eyes are uploaded to a computer so the doctor can look at them, and diagnose and monitor any eye conditions of the patients eyes.
What is an optometrist?
An optometrist is sometimes referred to as an ophthalmic optician. Their training mainly focuses
on the mechanisms of the eye and health care concerning eye problems. They may assess you
on how accurately you can perceive depth and colours, and test your ability to focus
What is an opthalmologist?
Ophthalmologists are the only practitioners medically trained to diagnose and treat all eye and
visual problems including vision services (glasses and contacts) and provide treatment and
prevention of medical disorders of the eye including surgery.
How will an optician test your vision?
An optician will ask you to read letters on a chart to assess how good your vision is. If they find a problem then they
repeat this with different lenses to help decide what
prescription you need in order to correct your vision.
What are angiographic tests used for? And how are they carried out?
Angiographic tests are used to measure the blood flow through the eye.
A dye is injected into the arm and its progress through the vessels of the eye is recorded using a retinal camera.
What is visual field testing?
A visual field test is a simple test which measures your peripheral vision and all-around vision. The visual field machine will complete an analysis of the responses given during the test and collate these results in a visual plot field. You may be asked to complete this test more than once.
What is the visual plot field used for?
Your optometrist uses the visual plot field to compare your visual field test to others from people of a similar age, as well as looking for any loss of sensitivity across the visual field. Visual field is split into two types: diffuse and localised.
What can a visual field test detect?
A visual field test can detect vision loss caused by a possible brain tumour, stroke or eye diseases such as glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy.
What is a normal visual field test result and what does this mean?
A normal visual field test means that someone can see well through the centre and around the edges of their vision.
What does an abnormal visual field test mean?
An abnormal visual field test could indicate signs of AMD or other eye conditions like glaucoma, but further tests will need to be done to confirm this. It’s important to note that many people who are not familiar with a visual field test, or perhaps did not understand the test fully, can find it difficult on their first attempt, so results may be inaccurate
How can angiographic tests be used for AMD?
It can record where the blood vessels are in your eye, their size and any problems affecting them. If an abnormal amount of blood vessels are found, this can indicate that the patient has AMD, as these blood vessels are a result of the overproduction of the protein VEGF
How can ophthalmic imaging be used for AMD?
If an abnormal amount of blood vessels are seen in the images produced by the procedure, this indicates that the patient has AMD. This is due to the overproduction of VEGF, causing an abnormal amount of angiogenesis.
