Abstract
Purpose: :
To describe the morphologic variables of macroaneurysms, to assess their diameter in comparison to their up/downstream vessel diameter as visualized on Spectral Domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and to describe morphologic changes in the retina adjacent to a macroaneurysm.
Methods: :
A retrospective case series of adult patients with retinal macroaneurysms. The departmental database was searched for the medical records of all patients who were clinically diagnosed as having retinal arterial macroaneurysms and who underwent Heidelberg Spectral-Domain (SD) OCT between June 2009 and October 2010.
Results: :
Charts of consecutive 12 patients (mean age 77.25 years, range 31-95, 2 males) were retrieved. OCT related findings were intraretinal hemorrhage, intraretinal lipids, and intraretinal edema (the latter being prominent in the outer retinal layers, in all patients). Foveal subretinal fluid (SRF) was detected in 4 cases and sub macroaneurysm retinal fluid in 2 (a feature not described previously). We were able to identify morphologic macroaneurysm's OCT characteristics not specifically reported before: The mean diameter of the macroaneurysm was 285.33µ. Mean up/downstream vessel diameter was 117.5µ (P = .0001 vs. mean macroaneurysm diameter). Patients with macular edema or subfoveal subretinal fluid tended to have macroaneurysms with larger diameters (P = NS).
Conclusions: :
This case series is the largest to have been studied thus far. As opposed to other reports, we concentrated on the OCT findings of the macroaneurym itself rather than on its retinal manifestations. Spectral-Domain OCT is an effective tool for detecting retinal macroaneurysms. It also provides important supplementary clinical information that may be helpful in planning the management of a macroaneurysm, without the need for ancillary tests.
Keywords: imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • retina • imaging/image analysis: clinical