Abstract
Purpose :
Identification of sclerotic vessels resulting from ischemia can be challenging with conventional color fundus photography (CFP). We aim to use this pilot study to evaluate the detection of retinal vessel whitening from branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) using CFP and newer confocal scanning laser Multicolor (MC) imaging.
Methods :
This retrospective study identified patients with BRVO using the imaging database at the University of California San Diego. Whitening on CFP and MC was graded by retinal specialists compared to reference images. Graders were asked to choose their preferred MC channel (infrared, blue, or green) to identify whitening. Vessel whitening by MC was further correlated to the area of ischemia on FFA and analyzed longitudinally.
Results :
MC images from 32 BRVO patients (n=33 eyes, 21 females, mean age 69.7 years) and 29 healthy controls (n=29 eyes, 20 females, 70.1 years) were analyzed. To test the difference in MC versus CFP for vessel sclerosis detection, 24 patients (n=24 eyes) with available images in both modalities were graded and compared, showing a significantly higher grade of vessel whitening by MC compared with CFP (p < 0.05). The green channel was preferred in 70% of MC images to best identify whitening in cases with whitening visible on CFP (n=30 eyes, 3 eyes were excluded due to poor image quality), followed by blue (30%) and 0% infrared. Longitudinal analysis with MC images (n=32 cases/194 eyes) found significantly higher grading scores, indicating more vessel whitening, as time progressed (p<0.001). Finally, MC images matched with same-date fluorescein angiography (n=28 cases/eyes) had a moderate correlation between vessel whitening and the area of ischemia (r=0.438, p=0.022).
Conclusions :
MC imaging appears to better identify retinal vessel whitening compared with CFP in BRVO patients, preferably with the green MC channel. A limiting factor in this study was that in some cases MC and CFP images were not taken on the same day. However, the MC module may be a quick, non-invasive tool to highlight vessel whitening in ischemic BRVO.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.