Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the results using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) in the follow-up of patients treated with intravitreal injections for a macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO).
Methods :
Retrospective study of RVO patients treated with intravitreal injections for a macular edema. Before and after injection, following data were recorded: best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), Spectral Domain-Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT), fluorescein angiography and OCT A (Optovue, Inc., Fremont, California, USA). Automatic measurement of vascular density of the superficial (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) was also done before and after treatment and compared to healthy subjects, matched for age and gender.
Results :
35 eyes of 34 patients (mean age, 68 years, male 64%) were retrospectively analyzed, including 16 central RVO, 15 branch RVO and 4 hemicentral RVO. After treatment, central macular thickness significantly decreased from 623µ to 326µ in average and BCVA increased from 20/100 to 20/63 (p<0.01 for both). On OCTA, a significant decrease of perifoveal capillary disruption was observed after treatment (p=0.02) as well as a decrease of vascular dilation in the SCP and the DCP (p=0.001 and 0.016 respectively) and of the number of cysts in the SCP and DCP (p<0.001 for both). At the SCP, the mean whole en face vascular density slightly decreased during follow-up from 45.7 to 44.5%, and the density in the parafoveal zone decreased from 47.2 to 45.8% (non-significant difference for both). These densities were largely inferior to those observed in control subjects (50.8% and 52.6% respectively, p<0.001 for both).
Conclusions :
Along with the disappearance of macular edema and of macular cysts, OCTA visualized a slight decrease in macular vascular density with time and despite treatment. This technique allows a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the follow-up of RVO patients, useful to analyze both macular edema and vascular perfusion.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.