INDOCYANINE GREEN VERSUS FLUORESCEIN ANGIOGRAPHY IN MACULAR DISEASES

Abstract

Macular diseases are very important because they are the most visually threatening among fundus lesions. Many of them share similar clinical presentation, but they differ in the etiology, the prognosis and the required management.

Since the introduction of fluorescein angiography, it contributed greatly, and it is still doing, in the diagnosis, selection of treatment modality and follow up of many macular .. diseases •especially vascular diseases, as diabetic retinopathy, retinal artery occlusion, retinal vein occlusion, hereditary diseases as Stargardt's disease and many other diseases as angioid streaks, central serous retinopathy, serous detachment of retinal pigment epithelium, etc...

lndocyanine green with its infrared spectrum of fluorescence and its high protein binding capacity helps more to trace the choroidal vessels even through retinal pigment epithelium and even, sometimes, hemorrhages. Therefore, it takes a greater role in neoplastic disorders, inflammatory disorders and choroidal neovacularization