04 December 2023: Review Articles
Clinical Application of Adaptive Optics Imaging in Diagnosis, Management, and Monitoring of Ophthalmological Diseases: A Narrative Review
Alina Szewczuk 1BDEF* , Anna Zaleska-Żmijewska 2DEF , Jacek Dziedziak 3DE , Jacek P. Szaflik 2DEFDOI: 10.12659/MSM.941926
Med Sci Monit 2023; 29:e941926
Table 1 Examples of using AO in IRDs.
| IRDs | Research findings using AO |
|---|---|
| Stargardt disease | Enlarged cone and rod spacing in retinal regions that appear normally in conventional images, suggesting that photoreceptor loss precedes clinically detectable disease []The cone mosaic parameters in AO-SLO images correspond to retinal structure in OCT images and visual function in microperimetry, demonstrating a valuable structure-function correlation []77 |
| Best vitelliform macular dystrophy | Photoreceptor morphology within vitelliform lesions can range from normal appearing mosaic to significant disruption depending on the disease stage []79 |
| X-linked retinoschisis | The increased cone spacing and abnormal packing in the macula but almost normal cone morphology outside the central foveal schisis []80 |
| Congenital stationary night blindness | AO-SLO demonstrated normal rod and cone mosaic topography, suggesting that the disease is caused by functional defects in retinal neurotransmission rather than morphological abnormalities of photoreceptors []81 |
| Blue cone monochromacy (X-linked) | Using AO-SLO, decreased density and impaired mosaic of cones in asymptomatic female carriers have been demonstrated []The degree of disruption in cone structure in affected men varies widely, which may depend on the type of mutation []82 |
| Achromatopsia | Empty spaces at the photoreceptor level in the fovea were demonstrated. The mosaic of photoreceptors was significantly disrupted compared to the control group, although in very different degrees depending on age and mutation type [,]84 |
| Progressive retinal dystrophies | |
| Retinitis Pigmentosa | Decreased cone density even in the retinal regions with unaffected the ellipsoid zone/the interdigitation zone (EZ/IZ) in OCT and preserved visual sensitivity []86 |
| Cone-Rod dystrophies ()Figure 5 | Large areas without cones in atrophic regions. Regions that appeared relatively lesion-free on clinical examination contained abnormally large cones, resulting in reduced cone density []87 |
| Choroideremia | Relatively intact central retina with normal or reduced cone density and sudden loss of cones at the border of RPE atrophy. No RPE cells were seen in areas of cones’ loss []88 |
| AO – adaptive optics; IRDs – inherited retinal diseases; AO-SLO – adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy; RPE – retinal pigment epithelium. | |