Revisiting the Utility of Dilated Fundus Exams in Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Receiving Regular Intravitreal Injections

Fares Antaki; Daniel Milad; Ali Dirani

doi:10.2147/OPTH.S303551

Revisiting the Utility of Dilated Fundus Exams in Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Receiving Regular Intravitreal Injections

Clin Ophthalmol. 2021 Mar 12:15:1129-1131. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S303551. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Fares Antaki^{1

2}, Daniel Milad³, Ali Dirani⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
² Centre Universitaire d'Ophtalmologie (CUO), Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, CIUSSS de l'Est-De-l'île-De-Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
³ Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
⁴ Department of Ophthalmology, Centre Universitaire d'Ophtalmologie, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, CHU de Québec - Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada.

Abstract

Patients receiving regular anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) intravitreal injections for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) routinely undergo dilated fundus examination (DFE) at each visit. In this paper, we review the current evidence on the utility of DFE in guiding treatment of established patients with nAMD and discuss novel treatment algorithms that defer DFE assessments with the advent of optical coherence tomography (OCT). We also debate on the value of DFE in the current sanitary context of COVID-19 and highlight important clinical scenarios where it must be performed.

Keywords: COVID-19; age-related macular degeneration; dilated fundus exam; intravitreal injections; optical coherence tomography.

Grants and funding

No funding was received for this research.