Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO) can help clinicians predict long-term functional outcomes of macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery, according to a study published in Retina.
The investigators reviewed the utility of FLIO in patients following successful pseudophakic macula-off RRD reattachment surgery.
The team used retinal autofluorescence at 470 nm and measured amplitude-weighted mean fluorescence lifetimes (Tm) in a short spectral channel (SSC, 498–560 nm) and a long spectral channel (LSC, 560–720 nm). They obtained Tm within a standardized Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid and evaluated correlations. Patients’ unaffected fellow eyes served as controls.
A total of 58 patients (age, 65±1.6 years; 81.1% men, 18.9% women) were included in the study, and they were evaluated at a median of 1.5 months postoperatively.
The investigators found that Tm were significantly prolonged within areas of previously detached retina in the long spectral channel (mean, 261.5 picoseconds [ps] in control eye at baseline vs 294.1 in affected eye at 6 months) and in the central subfield in the short spectral channel (mean, 209.6 ps in control eye at baseline vs 230 ps in affected eye at 6 months).
They also demonstrated that short lifetimes in the center of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid correlated with better visual acuity (short spectral channel: r2=0.18; P =.001; long spectral channel: r2=0.08; P =.03).
“Shorter foveal lifetimes at 1 month were significantly associated with a good visual prognosis in the following up to 6 months after RRD repair,” the researchers report. “Therefore, an increased area of short fluorescence lifetimes in the macular region after surgery may have prognostic value. In addition, over the 6 months follow up, we observed that the macular fluorescence lifetimes gradually recover following successful RRD repair in some cases.”
The primary limitation of the study was the small sample size.
References:
Jaggi D, Solberg Y, Dysli C, Ebneter A, Wolf S, Zinkernagel MS. Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy: findings after surgical reattachment of macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Retina. 2020;40(10):1929-1937. doi:10.1097/IAE.0000000000002718