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Ashton, who has contributed so extensively to our knowledge of retinal disease, remarked in 1974 that “we must continue to look for more fundamental scientific investigations and at the same time develop new ways of examining the retina in an effort to unravel the still unsolved questions”. At that time most advances were based on histopathological studies using postmortem material.

Since then, the advent of a variety of imaging modalities has completely changed the field and has brought retina examination and understanding of retinal disease from the laboratory in the daily clinical practice. It is possible now to follow retinal diseases in the consulting room almost at histopathological level. The decisions to treat are made now with much more confidence. The increase in knowledge in this area is tremendous and continuous. I can say that imaging is at the center of eye disease diagnosis and management.

Fundus photography and angiography has now improved much and the contribution of new techniques particularly with wide-field examinations are reviewed in the first chapter.

The second chapter addressed Optical Coherence Tomography. The relevance of this method is unique and is constantly offering new perspectives, allowing both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the choroidal and retinal tissues.

The third chapter focuses on Choroidal Imaging using optical coherence tomography. This is an emerging field that has brought new perspectives to the forgotten role of the choroid on choroid retinal disease.

The fourth chapter reviews Optical Coherence Angiography, a relatively new non-invasive method of studying the choroidal and retinal circulations.

The fifth chapter analyses the subject of autofluorescence imaging. Fundus autofluorescence allows for mapping of physiological and pathological fluorophores of the ocular fundus. It is a challenging but also extremely promising area.

Finally, the last chapters are dedicated to multimodal imaging. The availability of the previously described imaging modalities offers tremendous potential particularly when used in combination. Information from different imaging modalities add upon each other and offer entirely new perspectives allowing better information in each individual patient.

This book is seen not only as an update on the different imaging modalities, but also as an information source for those that are using imaging in their daily practice and want to understand fully what they see for the benefit of their patients.

José Cunha-Vaz, Coimbra

Adrian Koh, Singapore