Abstract
Purpose:
To study outer retinal structural changes in acute zonal occult outer retinopathy (AZOOR)-complex by using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) at the initial visit to the hospital.
Methods:
Twenty-two eyes of 22 patients (four male and 18 female; age, 19-69) with AZOOR-complex, whose periods from symptom onset to initial visit to the hospital were within six months, were included in this study. The continuity of the external limiting membrane (ELM), photoreceptor inner/outer segment (IS/OS) junction, and cone outer segment tip (COST) were evaluated using SD-OCT at their initial visit to the hospital. These three lines were divided into three categories of “continuous”, “discontinuous” and “absent”.
Results:
At the retinal area of visual field defects, the ELM was continuous in eight eyes, discontinuous in five eyes, and absent in nine eyes. The IS/OS junction was continuous in one eye, discontinuous in nine eyes, and absent in 12 eyes. The COST line was absent in all 22 eyes. In thee of 22 eyes, well-demarcated hyper-refractive materials were present between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and ERM, and these materials gradually disappeared within three months after the initial visit.
Conclusions:
The SD-OCT findings in AZOOR-complex at the initial visit were variable. The structure of ELM was most likely to be preserved, and COST line most severely affected. Our findings supported the idea that outer retinal structure was more vulnerable at the early stages of AZOOR-complex.
Keywords: 688 retina •
552 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) •
550 imaging/image analysis: clinical