Jorge L. Alió - Atlas of Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5332 Essentials in Ophthalmology aims to promote the rapid and efficient transfer of medical research into clinical practice. It is published in four volumes per year. Covering new developments and innovations in all fields of clinical ophthalmology, it provides the clinician with a review and summary of recent research and its implications for clinical practice. Each volume is focused on a clinically relevant topic and explains how research results impact diagnostics, treatment options and procedures as well as patient management.

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This book deals with one of the latest and most important developments in diagnostic imaging in ophthalmology Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and its applications to the study of the anterior segment of the eye.

Since its early development, when this technology was basically applied to study the posterior segment of the eye and particularly the macula, OCT has become an essential tool in the practice of ophthalmology. Nowadays, its application, aided by innovations in implementation, has allowed the study of the cornea, lens, and, in general, the anterior segment, including the ocular surface and glaucoma, and is now an essential element in the diagnosis and treatment guidance of anterior segment diseases.

Until recently, we had very few tools for the anterior segment of the eye other than biomicroscopy, gonioscopy, and anterior segment photography. Confocal microscopy was one of the innovations, but it never gained popularity in general clinical application, in spite of its scientific usefulness, owing to the small area from which it offers information (the central cornea, essentially), its relative complexity, the need for a skillful observer, frequently difficult interpretation, and the need for a cooperative patient. Anterior segment OCT (AS-OCT) has, on the contrary, overcome these disadvantages, and any technician or non-expert ophthalmologist can use it easily with basic training. Also, anterior segment OCT requires minimal cooperation from the patient; it is fast, non-invasive, and comfortable for general application in the often busy anterior segment clinic.

The sharp imaging that current anterior segment OCT devices provide, has make this technology to become a tool that goes beyond the limits of pure diagnostic imaging and provides in-depth anterior segment diagnosis.

This book is aimed at those who are introducing or are already using AS-OCT in their clinical practice. It is to be considered, as a text and atlas, a didactical tool using a systematic approach for the description and resolution of problems similar to Hippocratic teaching.

At the time of Hippocrates, when classical medicine was practiced in ancient Greece in the temples devoted to Aesculapius, pupils were guided in their education by the master and lessons were taught by observing and examining patients. This is exactly one of the methods we use here, taking the reader through different cases that show a wide range of examples of the applications of AS-OCT for diagnosis and the keys to its correct use and interpretation as well as therapeutic resolution of difficult, rare, or complex cases. In addition, the reader will find chapters that go in depth into the fundamentals and applications of this diagnostic technique. The chapter on future perspectives speculates about the development of this technology in the next 10 to 15 years.

I hope the readers will be introduced to and educated in the proper use of AS-OCT. I do think that all practicing clinicians will find the case reports that we have included here very interesting and informative.

I also want to thank the authors who have contributed their knowledge and expertise and donated their time to this essay in medical education.Alicante, SpainJorge L. AliJorge L. Ali del Barrio

Financial Support: This study has been supported by the Red Temtica de Investigacin Cooperativa en Salud (RETICS), reference number RD16/0008/0012, Funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), A way to make Europe.