Fluorescein and, more recently, indocyanine green angiography generally are used in the detection of choroidal neovascular membranes, the major cause of decreased visual acuity in age-related macular degeneration. The findings reported herein indicate that infrared light imaging (at 795 nm1) may also be useful in the detection of well-defined neovascular membranes.
Infrared images and fluorescein angiograms were obtained by means of a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (Scanning Laser Opthalmoscope 101, Rodenstock Instrument GmbH, Ottobrunn-Riemerling, Germany), using a 785-nm diode laser in confocal mode with different apertures for infrared images and a 488-nm argon laser with a 530-nm filter for fluorescein angiography. The fluorescein angiograms of 10 consecutive patients with well-defined neovascular membranes were compared with images obtained using infrared light.
In all of these cases, the infrared images of the membrane showed a white contour that corresponded fairly closely in size and shape to that demonstrated by fluorescein angiography (Figure