Watch the webinar: An objective method for diagnosing hydroxychloroquine maculopathy

The RCOphth recommends all hydroxychloroquine users be referred for annual monitoring after five years of therapy, with review annually thereafter. At each monitoring visit, patients should undergo imaging with both SD-OCT and widefield fundus autofluorescence.

A recent clinical paper by Hasan, H. et al (2020) presents a quantitative and objective method for interpreting the RCOphth guidelines. The authors used a SPECTRALIS® to obtain high-resolution volume scans of the macula and calculated the outer nuclear layer (ONL) volume to look for early signs of maculopathy. The ability to individually segment the ONL in an SD-OCT volume scan is unique to SPECTRALIS and testament to the image quality and segmentation capabilities of the platform. You can watch a presentation by Mr. Hasan on this subject.

Watch recorded webinar

An objective method for diagnosing hydroxychloroquine maculopathy
Recorded webinar: An objective method of diagnosing hydroxychloroquine maculopathy.

Hani Hasan, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust comments: "We present the first objective cut-off points that can be used by ophthalmologists or allied health professionals, who will be screening patients for HCQ maculopathy. We are writing a computer software programme that will enable ophthalmologists to use our data in their clinical practice."

The SPECTRALIS offers SD-OCT and widefield autofluorescence imaging with the Widefield Imaging Module and the BluePeak Module on one multimodal imaging platform, which meets the RCOphth recommendations for screening.


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