OCT Day recordings available on OT Education library

Webinar recordings are now available from a day of education focused on optical coherence tomography (OCT).

OT, in partnership with the AOP, held OCT Day on 12 October to support optometrists’ confidence in interpreting OCT findings, recognising ocular pathologies, and applying their knowledge in everyday practice.

The day of continuing professional development opened with a session on Macular neovascularisation – how and what? The session looked at the different causes, many of which can mimic wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Matthew Chan, optometrist at the Bristol Eye Hospital and a senior lecturer at Cardiff University, explored the different types of macular neovascularisation and how multimodal imaging could help support differentiation from wet AMD.

In Geographic atrophy in AMD – OCT in practice, Mike Horler, consultant optometrist, visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, and councillor at the College of Optometrists, discussed the impact of geographic atrophy (GA) in AMD, focusing on imaging in diagnosis and monitoring.

The webinar, sponsored by Specsavers, covered classification, progression, and prevalence, with Horler also highlighting emerging treatments.

The AOP’s legal and regulatory team highlighted how OCT can protect or expose clinicians in legal proceedings through the webinar Understanding OCT in a legal context.

David Bowes, solicitor at the AOP, and Kevin Wallace, independent prescribing optometrist, clinical adviser to the AOP and optometric adviser to NHS Lothian, drew from real closed legal cases where OCT imaging played a key role in decision making or missed opportunities to share what can be learnt to improve documentation, communication, and patient care.

Evelyn Mensah, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Central Middlesex Hospital, London Northwest University Healthcare NHS Trust, and president of the ophthalmology section at the Royal Society of Medicine presented the final lecture of the day, Retinal vascular clues on OCT – a practical guide for primary care.

The session discussed the use of OCT in detecting and managing a variety of common and vision-threatening retinal vascular conditions, how to recognise structural changes on OCT and understand the underlying pathophysiology, also considering when it is appropriate to make an urgent referral or co-manage a patient.

Elin Daniel, events coordinator at the AOP, said: “It was a fantastic day of education on using OCT in practice, which delegates really responded to, leading to feedback scores of 98% and over across the board.”

The four webinars from OCT Day can be watched on-demand through the OT Education library.