Modified 3-Standard Field Color Fundus Photography and Fluorescein Angiography Procedure

1.0 Photographer Certification

Photographers taking photographs for studies read by the UW-FRPC must be certified for the relevant procedure(s), before submitting actual patient photographs. Clinical sites are strongly encouraged to have a minimum of two, but no more than three, certified photographers. Photographers are encouraged to contact the Reading Center's photographic consultants, Michael Neider (608-263-9858) or Hugh Wabers (608-263-0740) with any photography related questions. Pointers on photographic technique may be found in Attachment A.

Certification consists of (1) review of study synopsis and photography procedures and (2) demonstrated ability to perform the photographic procedure by submission of photographs of acceptable quality. The second requirement may be waived if the photographer has prior certification at the UW-FPRC using a similar procedure. Photographs must have been taken within the past year.

Photographers who are not eligible for certification on the basis of previous certification in another study should submit color photographs and accompanying fluorescein angiograms of two patients taken using this procedure. The angiograms may be taken of patients with any retinal or choroidal disorder in whom angiography is being carried out for clinical purposes. The color photographs may be taken of patients in whom photography is being carried out for clinical purposes or in normal volunteers. The color slides and fluorescein angiograms should be mounted as shown in Sections 7 & 9. Pre-printed labels may be unavailable for labeling certification photographs, please hand label the color slides indicating the field and the eye photographed and the right side (RS) or left side (LS) of the stereo pair. The slide pages containing the color photographs and the fluorescein angiograms should be labeled with a slide identification label indicating the patient initials or patient identifier, photographer's name, date of photography and that the photographs are certification sets. A signed UW-FPRC certification request form is also required. (See Attachment B: Study Forms and Labels (Study Specific))

Photographers who meet certification criteria will receive written confirmation of certification. Photographers who do not meet these criteria will receive feedback from the UW- FPRC photographic consultants, and will be required to submit additional sets of photographs and/or angiograms. After three unsuccessful attempts for certification, no additional photographic submissions will be accepted until a plan for improving photographic quality has been developed in collaboration with the sponsor and principal investigator.

2.0 Uncertified Photographers

On rare occasions when a certified photographer is not available, an uncertified photographer, familiar with the procedure, may take study photographs. The name of the uncertified photographer should be entered on the photo page labels.