Abstract
Purpose: :
The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between the retinal sensitivity tested by Microperimetry (MP) and structural abnormalities of the outer retina, assessed by Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) in patients with retinal vein occlusion.
Methods: :
Thirteen patients with retinal vein occlusion were included in the study. Six patients had a branch vein occlusion and 7 had a central retinal vein occlusion. All patients underwent MP and SD-OCT imaging. Microperimetry results were superimposed on retinal topography maps (SD-OCT). Point-to-point analysis between microperimetric retinal sensitivity and underlying integrity of Inner segment-Outer segment (IS-OS) junctional layer was performed. Nine patients had a fluorescein angiogram (FA) and these findings were correlated with the MP and SD-OCT results.
Results: :
Decreased mean retinal sensitivity weakly correlated with the disruption of the IS-OS layer both in branch and central retinal vein occlusion (correlation coefficient (r) -0.2, weak inverse correlation). Ischemia on FA correlated positively with decreased retinal sensitivity but had no significant relation with the integrity of the IS-OS junction.
Conclusions: :
In patients with retinal vein occlusion, retinal sensitivity and ischemia do not correlate with the integrity of the underlying IS-OS junctional layer. As retinal vein occlusion is a disease of the inner retina, structural disruption of the outer retinal layers may not be seen as observed in this study. A larger study to evaluate the functional and structural changes in the retinal layers in central and branch retinal vein occlusion is warranted.
Keywords: imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) • retina • imaging/image analysis: clinical