History of the International FAN Club

Fluorescein angiography is now a commonly performed procedure, but back in the mid-60’s, it was performed using equipment produced and put together by retinal specialists; at least the power unit needed was not commercially available.

The choice of filters was very much trial and error: the Kodak Wratten filters were replaced by Schott filters and later Baird Atomic were used. Much of this work was done by Jendo Oosterhuis who started fluorescein angiography in the Netherlands. Like minded people started to meet up to discuss cases in the Netherlands from around 1965. Other ophthalmic institutions soon followed and meetings were held on a regular basis around Europe. After a very successful Fluorescein Symposium in Albi in 1969 with Pierre Amalric, Jean Jacques de Laey and Aachim Wessing, it was suggested that international meetings should be held.

The first International FAN Club met in Leiden in 1973. For the past 30 years, meetings have been held twice a year in different host countries resulting in interesting discussion about very unusual and challenging cases. Sometimes, the presenter got useful advice, or even a diagnosis, from other members. Other times, the presenter was reassured that no other retinal specialist in Europe knew what to do. Some of the cases from different members were collected together and published as case series.

The FAN Club is still very much alive today with active new members forming a new generation. This parallels the development of equipment. Initially, immense power units with very large condensers, Kodak caroussels with slides, and black and white photographs were employed. Nowadays computers, lasers, CDs and USB memory sticks are the only allowed presentation format. This website will propagate the FANatics.