USE OF FLUORESCEIN INTRAVENOUSLY AS AN AID TO OPHTHALMIC DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Abstract

Ehrlich 1 in 1882 described the formation of a vertical green line in the aqueous after intravenous or oral administration of fluorescein to rabbits. Since then a large amount of experimental work has been carried out, especialy in Germany, in an effort to explain the formation of this line. This has led to the use of fluorescein as an experimental medium for various types of research dealing with the production and circulation of the aqueous and the permeability of the capillaries of the eye. Before extensive clinical use can be made of this method, further experimental work will have to be done. Since fluorescein also appears in the spinal fluid, Bonar and Bailey 2 in 1930 reported its use as a diagnostic test for epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis. It has also been used for clinical and experimental work by urologists because it is excreted rapidly by the kidneys. Before taking up