Abstract
Purpose :
To compare the findings on retinal vascular images obtained using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) with those using fluorescein angiography (FA) in eyes with retinal artery occlusion (RAO).
Methods :
Eight eyes of eight patients (five eyes with central RAO; three eyes with branch RAO) were enrolled. All patients underwent FA at the first visit. The images were obtained every 10 seconds until 100 seconds after dye injection began. Using the FA images, we assessed the intraretinal circulatory time (IRCT), defined as the time from the start of arteriolar inflow to the disappearance of laminar flow in the venules. En-face OCTA images (6 × 6 mm) were acquired using Cirrus HD-OCT 5000 (Carl Zeiss Meditec). All eyes were treated with at least ocular massage and treatment to reduce the intraocular pressure. We followed the vascular flow changes using OCTA and compared the changes on the OCTA images with those on the initial FA images.
Results :
In four eyes with CRAO, the IRCT exceeded 100 seconds on the FA images, and the retinal large vessels and capillaries were barely visible on the OCTA images. However, in the other four eyes with IRCT shorter than 70 seconds, the retinal vessels and capillaries on the OCTA images were partially visualized even in the areas of delayed perfusion on FA. Regardless of the IRCT, OCTA acquired more than 1 month after treatment visualized reperfusion of the retinal capillaries corresponding to the perfused areas on the initial late-phase FA images in four eyes. However, in four eyes in which the initial late-phase FA images showed non-perfused areas, capillary reperfusion in the follow-up OCTA images did not occur after treatments.
Conclusions :
In eyes with RAO, visualization of retinal vessels and capillaries on OCTA images may depend on the IRCT. OCTA is useful to noninvasively monitor the status of the capillary perfusion; however, capillary reperfusion after treatment cannot be predicted by the visualization of retinal capillaries on the initial OCTA images. The initial late-phase FA images may allow estimation of whether retinal vessels and capillaries become reperfused in the follow-up OCTA images.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.