Learn more about The ABCs of OCT by Dr. Derek MacDonald

In Dr. Derek MacDonald’s presentation titled “The ABCs of OCT: AMD, DME, and Retinal Vascular Disease, he reviewed many common retinal disorders seen in clinic, how to properly care for these patients, when to monitor, and when to refer based on OCT findings. Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Larger soft drusen and smaller cuticular drusen are beneath the RPE, whereas subretinal drusenoid deposition (SDD) are above the RPE. This is important to differentiate as SDDs are a biomarker of severe disease

• The odds ratio for high-risk systemic vascular disease, such as a cardiac valve defect, myocardial defect and stroke/TIA is nearly 10-fold higher for individuals with SDD than for those with drusen alone

• Intraretinal cysts may be the single most important biomarker in neovascular AMD, and have a much greater impact on the ultimate functional status than presence of subretinal or sub-RPE fluid

• In patients presenting with acute RAO, one in three will experience a coincident acute cerebral stroke, one in three have severe carotid artery disease, and one in three present with a hypertensive emergency.

Check out his full presentation and handouts here!