Value and Significance of Hypofluorescent Lesions Seen on Late-Phase Indocyanine Green Angiography

Abstract

The hypofluorescence of fundus lesions observed during the late phase of indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) in various diseases has often been overlooked or misinterpreted. This article explores the significance of fundus lesions that are initially isofluorescent during the early phase of ICGA but become hypofluorescent later in the examination. Pathologies such as multiple evanescent white spot syndrome, acute posterior placoid syphilitic chorioretinitis, chronic central serous chorioretinopathy, choroidal hemangioma, and some fundus with drusen, present this phenomenon of late hypofluorescence. The interpretation of ICGA images and the role of indocyanine green (ICG) uptake by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in late fundus fluorescence is debated. Experimental evidence suggests that ICG accumulates progressively in the RPE after intravenous injection of the dye or after direct contact invitro, making it a potential marker of RPE activity. Although the exact mechanisms of ICG diffusion through the choroid and its binding to the RPE require further investigation, the late hypofluorescence observed in certain ICGA diseases provides information on different modalities of RPE dysfunction. The author has no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.