The Belfast Ophthalmic Reading Centre, the first to undertake grading of AMD on digitally acquired images, offers a comprehensive grading of fundus, angiographic and tomographic images of the posterior segment of the eye for a variety of diseases, and has an extensive portfolio of national and international studies.

Operating under the Central Administrative Research Facility (CARF) and Queen’s University Belfast, from the Royal Hospital site, Belfast Ophthalmic Reading Centre has three senior ophthalmic image analysts and two ophthalmic image analysts, co-ordinating with the reading centres in Liverpool and Moorfields to grade a wide range of studies, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and population based studies. Analysts are trained to use a variety of imaging platforms, interpreting colour fundus, fluorescein angiogram (FA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), MultiColor, infra-red, Indocyanine Green Angiography (ICGA), and fundus autofluorescence (FAF) images.

The centre’s clinical lead is Professor Tunde Peto (MD, MHealthEd, PhD) who has a special interest in chronic blinding diseases, diabetes, epidemiology, statistics and image analysis. Emeritus Professor Usha Chakravarthy (MBBS, FRCS, PhD, CBE), recognised for her expertise in clinical and pathological studies in Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), is still involved with relevant studies. The centre also has three PhD students and two research fellows.