Abstract
Purpose :
To assess the utility of anterior segment – optical coherence tomography angiography (AS-OCTA) in determining the severity of corneal neovascularization (CoNV).
Methods :
Retrospective analysis of the AS-OCTA from 34 patients with CoNV from various etiologies was performed. The most anterior and most posterior CoNV limits from the surface of the cornea were measured with AS-OCTA and the CoNV thickness (CoNVT) was determined as the difference between the latter measurements. For comparison, patients with ≤3 clock hours of vascularization were classified as early CoNV and >3 clock hours of vascularization as advanced CoNV. Mann-Whitney U tests and Pearson correlations were performed. All measurements were performed by two masked graders.
Results :
Total of 22 CoNV and 12 advanced CoNV patients were included in each group. The mean age was 53.2±20.4 and 51.8±12.6 years (p=0.592), with a female prevalence of 54.5% and 36.8%, respectively (p=0.282). The advanced CoNV group showed a deeper mean CoNV limit when compared to CoNV group (393.3±148.8µm and 204.9±108.1µm, respectively; p=0.001) and a greater CoNVT (259.2±117.8µm and 137.7±96.9µm, respectively; p=0.003). There was no significant difference of the anterior CoNV limit and the corneal thickness between the groups (p≥0.05). The posterior CoNV limit and CoNVT showed a strong correlation to the best-corrected visual acuity (0.598 and 0.737, respectively; p<0.001).
Conclusions :
The depth of the posterior CoNV limit and the CoNVT are novel parameters that could be considered as surrogate markers for severity in CoNV. AS-OCTA is an objective and promising non-invasive tool for assessing CoNV.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.