Abstract
Purpose :
To use a previously validated automated algorithm for detecting and quantifying vitreous hyperreflective foci (VHRF) density in optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans from patients with retinal vein occlusion.
Methods :
Retrospective longitudinal analysis of 97-slice OCT volume scans from patients with total or hemi-retinal vein occlusions compared to scans from 34 healthy controls. 17 scans from 8 eyes (5 patients) with vein occlusion were analyzed.
We used an algorithm that identifies presumable inflammatory cells in the vitreous which we previously validated on patients with diabetes and uveitis. The algorithm performs automated quantification of VHRF, and subsequently calculates a VHRF score representing foci per vitreous volume analyzed for each scan (Figure 1). This score was compared between eyes from healthy controls, and eyes with retinal vein occlusion. Additionally, when available we compared VHRF scores of patients’ fellow healthy eye on day of first presentation.
Results :
VHRF scores were significantly higher in the eyes with retinal vein occlusion (p<.0001), suggesting VHRF may be associated with presence of vitreous inflammatory cells in these patients (Figure 2). Mean [SEM] VHRF score, was increased in patients with retinal vein occlusion by 60.6-fold (93.3 [23.7]) compared with healthy controls (1.53 [0.46]).
Fellow healthy eyes from patients with retinal vein occlusion on the day of presentation had lower VHRF scores than retinal vein occlusion eyes (mean of differences=89.3) (Figure 3). However, this was not statistically significant in paired t-test analysis (p=0.25).
Artifacts were present in OCT scans of 2 eyes with uveitis and 1 control, which were excluded from analysis.
Conclusions :
VHRF scores may provide an objective and noninvasive measure of intraocular inflammation as measured by our previously validated automated algorithm. Higher VHRF scores in patients with retinal vein occlusion are presumably a consequence of inflammatory response to venous congestion and ischemia.
Additional large-scale studies will continue to elucidate the relationship of VHRF in various disease processes where inflammation plays a role. Further longitudinal work will determine the value of VHRF scores in customizing therapeutic intervention and monitoring treatment response.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.