Book Reviews with focus on OCTA and retinal disorders

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) has generated an enormous amount of interest at international conferences and in journals since it was introduced several years ago. And yet, I hadn’t yet had the chance to really dive into this new imaging technique. So I was very pleased when I received a review copy of OCT Angiography in Retinal and Macular Diseases (Karger). OCTA is still in its infancy, and the editors preface the book with an admission that “we all are still trying to interpret the information, and many of the images… still require great effort to be understood.” And yet, many influential retinal specialists seem convinced that OCTA will change diagnostics and follow-up of retinal disease. This 180-page book contains 24 chapters, starting with the technical aspects of the technology and then moving on to descriptions of the images generated in healthy subjects. Commonly seen diseases, such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion are covered first. Rarer diseases are also described. Each chapter starts with an abstract, which helps orient the reader. The text is supplemented by high-quality OCTA images next to more recognisable images of standard fluorescein angiography, colour photographs and “normal” OCTs. This allows the reader to more efficiently understand OCTA imaging and how it might complement the current standard imaging modalities. This book is intended for anyone who is involved with OCTA, particularly retina fellows, retinal specialists and general ophthalmologists who are considering incorporating OCTA into their own practice. RETINAL DISORDERS Also from Karger, Retinal Pharmacotherapeutics, edited by QD Nguyen et al, is a large 400-page overview of the current knowledge regarding medical treatment of retinal disorders. Anti-VEGF is the first thing that comes to mind, but this book casts its net much wider. Well-established pharmacologic treatment regimens of posterior uveitis and endophthalmitis are reviewed, but research-oriented treatments are also considered. Basic sciences in the retina are discussed first, followed by animal models, routes for retinal drug delivery, mechanisms of individual drugs, and regulatory and economic considerations of retinal drugs. The last chapter is dedicated to future perspectives and agents on the horizon. This text-dense book is primarily appropriate for clinical and laboratory researchers in retinal pharmacology, as well as retina fellows who are interested in gaining detailed insight into the treatments they administer on a daily basis.