Ophthalmologists’ group carrying out OCT angiography research

A group of ophthalmologists from six UK hospitals are working together on a study that explores the feasibility of using optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography in clinical practice.

OCTANE (OCT Angiography Network), which includes ophthalmologists from Moorfields, York, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Bradford hospitals, is using Heidelberg Engineering’s Spectralis OCT angiography module.

The two phases of the study aim to identify how practical and repeatable the OCT angiography examination is in busy clinics, and then focuses on clinical investigation of eye diseases, including neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular oedema (DMO).

The group is looking at what useful OCT biomarkers there are for each disease, how reliably they can be detected and the limitations of the technology. 

Director of clinical services at Heidelberg Engineering, Christopher Mody (pictured), said: “With six university hospitals collaborating, OCTANE has a unique opportunity to recruit and gather large patient cohorts, which will provide more statistical power to their studies.”

Consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, Dr Sobha Sivaprasad, said OCT angiography has “the potential for improving outcomes in the treatment of DMO.”

Meanwhile, consultant ophthalmologist at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Dr Konstantinos Balaskas, said that in using the examination for investigation of AMD, he had found “useful end points for clinical trials, but the benefits in day to day clinic were unclear.” 

However, consultant ophthalmologist at York teaching Hospital, Richard Gale, explained that the group needs to standardise what it interprets “because the same patient can look different on different technologies.”