FOCUS ON…

Optovue iVue Allows OCT Anywhere

BY RENÉ LUTHE, SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Kenneth R. Diddie, MD, was happy with the performance of his Cirrus SD-OCT. It had performed well in his retina practice, in addition to clinical trials in which he had participated. But with three offices, it soon became clear that one OCT was not enough. The high cost, however, made outfitting all three sites out of the question. Then he discovered Optovue’s iVue (Figure 1). Advertised as the “next generation in advanced OCT,” the iVue delivers excellent image quality in a compact package, he says. Dr. Diddie and his partner can easily take the OCT and a laptop computer back and forth between their two other sites. “It’s very easy to transport. We have a table or a stand at each of the locations to hold it,” he explains. “We also hook up all of our images on Axis, which is a way for us to compare images from really any location.”

GOOD IMAGES FAST

The iVue uses 26,000 A-scans per second, the same scanning speed and resolution as Optovue’s larger, stationary RTVue, to produce images with axial resolution of 5 μm and transverse resolution of 15 μm. Live fundus imaging enables the physician or a technician to precisely localize the areas needed to image, which are viewed on a flatscreen monitor.

A 3D/En Face Analysis Upgrade offers virtual dissection of the retina and optic disc, and a 512 × 128 dense cube with 67 million data points. High-density 3D volume enables visualization and analysis of the patient condition. Images can be obtained in seconds, says Dr. Diddie, something patients appreciate. The iVue’s platform offers a foot-pedal option for image acquisition.

COMPARES FAVORABLY TO FULL-SIZE OCT

“Shortly after we got the iVue, we brought it to the office where we have the Cirrus, and compared them side by side on a number of patients,” he said. “We wanted to see how it compared because all OCTs target slightly different layers of the retina, so the thicknesses are a little different.” The result? “We found that the iVue and the Cirrus gave higher-thickness readings than the Stratus, as expected, and that the two SD-OCT readings were quite comparable.

“Optovue also just released the normative data for retina mapping (Figure 2), which is very useful for a retina practice,” he adds.

His technicians found the iVue “very quick, very simple to operate,” Dr. Diddie says. After a day of inservice and several days of patient use, the techs were comfortable using the iVue.

Another plus is the iVue platform’s wheels, which facilitate movement throughout the practice and accommodate patients in wheelchairs or in supine positions.

Figure 1. Optovue’s compact, portable iVue OCT.

Figure 2. Retina crossline map provided by the iVue.

JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES

The iVue’s other capabilities make it valuable for general ophthalmology practices as well, Dr. Diddie believes. Among them: For the anterior segment, there’s pachymetry mapping with full 6-mm diameter corneal thickness mapping with maximum thickness indicator and angle visualization and measurement. For glaucoma specialists, there’s optic disc, RNFL, and ganglion cell complex assessment that enables the clinician to detect ganglion cell death and axon loss. RP