Prevalence of the large choroidal blood vessel sign on optical coherence tomography images in central serous chorioretinopathy.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) sign of large choroidal blood vessels in eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

Methods: Clinical records of 84 patients with CSC and 84 healthy subjects who underwent EDI OCT were analyzed retrospectively. The large choroidal blood vessel sign was defined as a round to oval choroidal structure abutting Bruch’s membrane with a diameter larger than 200 μm on OCT images. Images of EDI OCT raster scan were analyzed for the presence of defined sign and accompanying retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) abnormalities.

Results: Ninety-two eyes with CSC and 76 unaffected fellow eyes of 84 patients with CSC and 168 eyes of 84 healthy subjects were evaluated. The defined sign were found in 96.9% of acute CSC eye, and 89.1 % of all CSC eyes. The defined sign were also observed with or without the vascular wall hyperreflectivity along the Bruch’s membrane. The hyperreflective sign was observed only in eyes with CSC (57.6%), and more frequently associated with acute than chronic and resolved CSC eyes (81.3%, 50%, and 15%, respectively; P<0.05). Although, the isoreflective sign was also observed more frequently in CSC eyes than in unaffected fellow eyes and healthy eyes (79.3%, 32.9 %, and 12.5 %, respectively), its prevalence did not differ significantly among CSC eyes with various clinical conditions (P>0.05). RPE abnormalities were observed in all OCT images in which the hyperreflective sign was observed.

Conclusions: The morphological sign of large choroidal blood vessel distinguished by means of EDI OCT raster scan could be helpful for the diagnosis and evaluation of CSC.

Keywords: 585 macula/fovea • 550 imaging/image analysis: clinical • 552 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)