MORE ANGIOGRAPHY
HERE'S A BIT MORE ABOUT THE PROCESS OF OBTAINING A GOOD ANGIOGRAM.
WE WOULD START BY GETTING A SHARP, WELL EXPOSED COLOR IMAGE OF THE RETINA. BELOW IS A FUNDUS PHOTOGRAPH OF A DIABETIC PATIENT'S LEFT EYE.

THE FUNDUS PHOTO IS USED AS A 'BASE-LINE' IMAGE. IN SOME CASES , A RED-FREE PHOTOGRAPH
IS ALSO USED AS A 'BASE-LINE'. THE FIRST IMAGE IN THE ANGIOGRAM BELOW (TOP RIGHT NUMBERED '7')
IS A RED-FREE PHOTO. NEXT, APPROXIMATELY 5 CC OF SODIUM FLUORESCEIN ARE INJECTED
INTO THE PATIENT'S BLOODSTREAM. FLUORESCEIN IS A MINERAL DYE THAT FLUORESCES UNDER A BLUE
LIGHT (APPROXIMATELY 490 NM). IT TAKES ABOUT 10-20 SECONDS FOR THE DYE TO REACH THE RETINA.
AT THIS POINT, PHOTOS NEED TO BE TAKEN AT A RATE OF ABOUT 1 PER SECOND TO GIVE AN ACCURATE
ACCOUNT OF THE PATIENT'S RETINAL CIRCULATION. BELOW WE CAN TRACE THE DYE THROUGH
THE RETINAL ARTERIAL STAGE (TOP ROW IMAGES # '9','10', AND '11')
THE EARLY VENOUS STAGE (SECOND ROW IMAGES # '12', '13', '14', AND '15')
VENOUS AND LATE VENOUS STAGES (IMAGES # '17', '19', '22', '25', '27', '30', AND '31')
AND FINALLY
THE LATE STAINING OCCURRING ABOUT 5 MINUTES AFTER THE INJECTION (IMAGE #'39').
THE RETINAL IMAGES IN THE ANGIOGRAM 'READ' FROM RIGHT TO LEFT AND THEIR TIMES ARE DISPLAYED IN THE UPPER LEFT OF EACH IMAGE. THE TIMES REFER TO THE POINT THE IMAGE WAS CAPTURED FOLLOWING THE INJECTION.