With high morbidity, branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) is a common retinal vascular disease in the clinic. Although the classic characteristics of BRVO have been recognized for a long time, the traditional understanding of BRVO has been challenged along with development and application of new imaging technologies, including the reasonable classification and staging of the disease, and the vascular characteristics at the occlusive site via multimodal imaging, etc. Thus, re-summarizing and refining these features as well as further improving and optimizing traditional imaging evaluation, can not only deepen the correct acknowledge of the entity, but also find biomarkers of prognosis of visual function, which is helpful to establish better diagnosis and treatment strategy. In the meanwhile, it is necessary that clinical characteristics of BRVO on imaging and the reliability of these imaging techniques are worth correct understanding and objective assessment.
OCT angiography (OCTA) is a fast, noninvasive and quantifiable new technique, which is especially suitable for long-term follow-up in patients with hereditary retinochoroidal degeneration, such as retinitis pigmentosa, Best vitelliform macular dystrophy, adult onset foveomacular vitelliform dystrophy, doyne honeycomb retinal dystrophy, choroideremia and Stargardt disease. During the follow-up, clinicians can find the subtle signs that explain disease development from the blood flow imaging, quantitatively describe the vascular density, timely detect and treat choroidal neovascularization. It is significant to explore the etiology and monitor the course of these diseases. With the development of more treatments for these diseases, OCTA parameters can also be used as indicators to evaluate and compare different therapeutic effects. In the future, more quantitative indicators of OCTA will be applied to evaluate the course of hereditary retinochoroidal degeneration, and provide valuable basis for early diagnosis and treatment.
Noninfectious uveitis refers to a category of inflammatory diseases involving the uvea, vitreous, optic disk and retina, with the exception of infectious factors or masquerade syndrome. These kind of blinding diseases are frequently recurrent, and the diagnosis and follow-up require fundus imaging techniques. OCT angiography (OCTA) is a rapid, noninvasive and quantifiable blood flow imaging modality that provides a depiction of the microvasculature morphology of the retinal and choroidal through different segmentation and detects the abnormal blood perfusion as well as the neovascularization. OCTA plays an important role in the diagnosis, assessment and follow-up for anterior uveitis, posterior uveitis and pan-uveitis such as Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, Behçet’s disease, ocular sarcoidosis, birdshot chorioretinopathy, serpiginous choroiditis, multifocal choroiditis, punctate inner choroidopathy, acute zonal occult outer retinopathy, acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy, multiple evanescent white dot syndrome, and also provides clue about their pathophysiologic mechanisms.
Objective To investigate the correlation of microperimetric parameters, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central retinal thickness (CRT) in diabetic macular edema (DME) eyes. Methods It is a prospective, no controlled, open study. Twenty-four consecutive patients (40 eyes) with DME were included. There were 10 males (18 eyes),14 females (22 eyes); aged from 41 to 79 years, with the mean age of (56.84±8.96) years. All the patients were type 2 diabetes, the average duration of diabetes was 8 years. BCVA was evaluated using the international Snellen E vision test chart, and then recorded as logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR). CRT was measured by Cirrus HD-OCT4000. MAIA microperimetric parameters were evaluated, including average threshold (AT) of retinal sensitivity, macular integrity index (MI), fixating points within a circle of 1° (P1) and 2° of radius (P2), bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA) considering 63% and 95% of fixating points (A63,A95), and horizontal and vertical axes of that ellipse (H63,H95,V63,V95). Pearson correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the association between these variables. The independent factor influenced the type of fixation was analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Results Strong correlations of logMAR BCVA with CRT (r=0.58,P=0.000), V63 (r=0.44,P=0.004), V95 (r=0.41,P=0.008), MI (r=0.36,P=0.024), AT (r=−0.61,P=0.000), P1 (r=−0.41,P=0.009), P2 (r=−0.38,P=0.015) were found. AT was correlations with P1 (r=0.53,P=0.000), P2 (r=0.51,P=0.001), A63 (r=−0.39,P=0.012), A95 (r=−0.40,P=0.012), V63 (r=−0.53,P=0.000), V95 (r=−0.46,P=0.003), MI (r=−0.50,P=0.001). There was no correlation between AT and CRT (r=−0.21,P=0.190). Forty eyes were included in this study, 8 eyes (20%) had stable fixation,14 eyes (35%) had relatively unstable fixation,18 eyes (45%) had unstable fixation. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that fixation classification was independently affected by P1. Conclusions In DME eyes, logMAR BCVA was positively correlated with CRT, negatively correlated with AT, P1 and P2. There is no correlation between AT and CRT. The fixation classification was independently affected by P1.
ObjectiveTo observe the changes of vessel densities (VD) in the macula and optic disc and its correlation with axial length (AL) in pathological myopia (PM). MethodsA retrospective clinical study. A total of 171 eyes from 171 patients admitted to Department of Ophthalmology of Jinshan Hospital of Fudan University from June 2019 to December 2019 were included in this study. Among them, there were 72 males and 99 females; age was 35.0±10.8 years old. The patients were divided into PM group, high myopia (HM) group and non-HM group, 51 cases with 51 eyes, 70 cases with 70 eyes, and 50 cases with 50 eyes, respectively. Optical coherence tomography angiography was used to scan the macular and optic disc areas of all the examined eyes in the range of 6 mm×6 mm. According to the early treatment of diabetic retinopathy study, the 6 mm macular and optic disc scan range was centered on the macular fovea and optic disc, respectively, then divided into two concentric circles with diameters of 1 mm of central area, an annulus between 1-3 mm circles of paracentral area. The paracentral area was divided into superior, inferior, nasal, temporal four quadrants by 2 radiation lines. The VD of superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), outer retina, and choriocapillaris layer were calculated in the central, superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal areas, respectively. The VD of PM, HM and non-HM groups were compared. The variance analysis was used to compare the VD among the three groups; Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the correlation between VD and AL. ResultsThe perifoveal VD of the SCP, outer retina and choriocapillaris layers were all lower in the PM than those of HM and non-HM group, and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). The VD of DCP macular central was higher in the PM than in the HM group, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.020). In the optic disc, the VD were lower in the PM group than in the non-HM group except for the area of DCP superior, inferior, temporal, outer retinal center, and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). The results of correlation analysis showed that the VD in the DCP macular central, ONH superior and the choriocapillaris ONH central were not correlated with AL (P=0.647, 0.688, 0.146), and the other VDs were negatively correlated with AL (P＜0.05). ConclusionCompared with HM and non-HM groups, the majority of VDs in macular and ONH are lower in participants with PM.
Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is one of the most common retinal vascular diseases causing blindness, macular edema (ME) is often secondary to it, which causes serious visual impairment to patients. Imaging biomarkers in the changes of retina and choroid of ME secondary to RVO (RVO-ME) have important clinical value in the evaluation of condition, curative effect and visual acuity prediction of patients with RVO-ME. Among them, the disorganization of the retinal inner layers, the integrity of external limiting membrane and ellipsoid zone, and the change of central macular thickness are reliable indexes to evaluate the prognosis of visual acuity; hyperreflective foci, subretinal fluid and intraretinal fluid can be used as important parameters to reflect the level of inflammation; prominent middle limiting membrane and paracentral acute middle maculopathy are the objective basis for judging the degree of retinal ischemia; the changes of choroidal vascular index and choroidal thickness also have potential advantages in evaluating the progress of the disease. Accurately grasp the characteristics of biological markers of RVO-ME related optical coherence tomography is conducive to its reasonable and accurate use in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of RVO-ME, and helpful to further explore the pathogenesis of the disease.
Objective To observe the multimodal image features of inflammatory lesions and choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in multifocal choroiditis (MFC). MethodsA retrospective clinical analysis. A total of 90 eyes of 46 patients with MFC diagnosed in the Department of Ophthalmology of Yunnan University Affiliated Hospital from May 2017 to April 2021 were included in the study. Among them, there were 21 males and 25 females; the average age was 38.30±8.97 years old. Twenty-nine cases of MFC were diagnosed in the past, and they visited the doctor again due to new symptoms; 17 cases without a clear past medical history were the first visits. All eyes underwent color fundus photography, fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and OCT angiography (OCTA). With reference to the literature and the results of multimodal fundus imaging examinations, MFC lesions were divided into active CNV lesions, inactive CNV lesions, active inflammatory lesions, and inactive inflammatory lesions, with 31 (34.4%, 31/90), 12 (13.3%, 12/90), 26 (28.9%, 26/90), 90 (100.0%, 90/90) eyes. Nineteen eyes were treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs. To summarize and analyze the manifestations of inflammatory lesions and CNV lesions in different imaging examinations. The Wilcoxon rank test was used to compare the detection rate of CNV lesions between FFA and OCTA. ResultsIn eyes with active inflammatory lesions and active CNV lesions, yellow-white lesions, retinal hemorrhage and exudation were seen on fundus color photography; FFA examination showed fluorescein leakage in the lesions; OCT examination showed retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer in the lesions was uplifted, the boundary was unclear, combined with subretinal and intraretinal fluid; OCTA examination showed that there was no blood flow signal in each layer of vascular tissue in active inflammatory lesions, and blood flow signals were seen in active CNV lesions. In the eyes of inactive inflammatory lesions and inactive CNV lesions, the fundus color photography showed that the lesions had clear boundaries without bleeding or exudation; FFA examination, the lesions were fluorescently stained, and there was no fluorescein leakage; OCT examination, inactive CNV lesions manifested as raised lesions with clear boundaries, and inactive inflammation manifested as scars formed by mild RPE hyperplasia or depressions in outer structures formed by atrophy; OCTA examination, inactive inflammatory lesions showed patchy loss of blood flow signal or penetrating blood flow signal below, blood flow signal can be seen in inactive CNV lesions. ConclusionMFC active inflammatory lesions and active CNV lesions are often accompanied by retinal hemorrhage and exudation; FFA shows fluorescein leakage; OCT shows that the boundary of raised lesions is unclear; OCTA can identify the nature of CNV or inflammatory lesions.
Objective To compare the features of OCT angiography (OCTA) between neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) patients before and after intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment. Methods A prospective cohort study. Twenty-nine patients (37 eyes) with nAMD (19 males and 10 females, aged 68.20±8.76) and 31 patients (34 eyes) with mCNV (9 males and 22 females, aged 43.10±11.80, with the mean diopter of −9.71±1.20 D) from Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University during May and December 2017 were included in this study. Ranibizumab or Conbercept (0.5 mg/0.05 ml) was intravitreally injected in all eyes. The patients were follow-up for 3−6 months. The OCTA was conducted before treatment and 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 3−6 months after treatment. In order to ensure that the scanning position was the same, the tracking mode was adopted for each scanning. According to the OCTA images, the lesion area, parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area were measured and analyzed contrastively between nAMD and mCNV patients. Results The mean lesion area before and 1 month after treatment in nAMD patients were 0.38±1.87 mm2 and 0.06±0.12 mm2, while in mCNV patients, those were 0.26±1.06 mm2 and 0.03±0.05 mm2, respectively. There were statistically significant differences (Z=4.181, 4.475; P＜0.001) in CNV lesion area before and 1 month after treatment between nAMD and mCNV patients. Compared with those before treatment, the absolute change (Z=1.853, P=0.064) and the percentage changes (t=2.685, P=0.010) of CNV lesion area 1 month after treatment in nAMD and mCNV patients show a statistical meaning. There were significantly decreases in both parafoveal superficial vessel density (F=8.997, P=0.003) and perfusion area (F=7.887, P=0.015) 3 months after treatment in nAMD patients, while decreases in parafoveal superficial vessel density (F=11.142, P=0.004) and perfusion area (F=7.662, P=0.013) could be detected 1 day after treatment in mCNV patients, before rising 1 month after treatment. Conclusions There are significantly differences in lesion area before and after the treatment of intravitreal anti-VEGF between nAMD and mCNV patients by OCTA examination. Moreover, the changes of both parafoveal superficial vessel density and perfusion area after anti-VEGF treatment are statistically different in two groups.