Abstract
Purpose :
To study the superficial and deep macular vessels density in various types of amblyopia in a pediatric cohort and to compare it with fellow and age-matched control eyes.
Methods :
In this prospective cross sectional study,20 subjects each anisometropic (AA) and strabismic amblyopia (SA),31subjects of bilateral isometropic amblyopia (BA),in the age group of 3-15years and 21 age-matched controls of were included.Subjects with history of nystagmus, ocular surgery and retinal pathology were excluded.Macular vessel density (VD) in superficial and deep capillary plexus(SCPandDCP) in foveal,parafoveal region and the four quadrants(temporal, superior,nasal,inferior) were measured by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA AngioVue version 2018.0.0.18).VD in amblyopia eyes were evaluated and compared with fellow and control eyes.In BA group, right eyes were included for comparison. Foveal avascular zone(FAZ) was evaluated in amblyopia eyes and compared with fellow and control eyes.
Results :
The mean SCP VD and DCP VD in foveal region (in the order AA , SA, BA, control) were 22.85±1.3, 22.53±8.3,23.9±7.8,21.97±7.6 and 36.33±7.7,39.25±10.8,37.77±8.4,35.77±8.9 respectively which did not differ between amblyopic eyes and control eyes (p >0.05).
The mean SCP VD and DCP VD in parafoveal region (in the order in AA, SA, BA,control) were 51.03±4.2, 52.26±.9, 52.54±4.2, 53.96±2.5 and 53.55±3.7, 54.48±4.3, 54.34±5.5, 55.91±4.8 respectively.
In AA eye, the SCP and DCP VD in parafoveal region were reduced as compared to control eyes (p<0.05) however only the superior and nasal quadrant of SCP in parafoveal region showed reduced VD (p <0.05).
In SA eye the SCP VD in parafoveal region was reduced when compared with control eyes (p<0.05) in addition only the superior and inferior quadrant showed reduced VD (p<0.05). DCP VD in SA eye did not differ from control eyes.(p> 0.05) Macular VD were similar in BA and control eyes(p>0.05).
Area of FAZ showed no difference in any type of amblyopia and control eyes. When compared with fellow eye, AA eye showed reduced VD in SCP in parafoveal region and nasal quadrant (p<0.5) and SA showed no difference in macular VD in SCP and DCP(p>0.5).
Conclusions :
Of all the amblyopia, the anisometropic amblyopia children showed significant reduction in macular vessel density which can signify structural retinal involvement however needs a prospective study with larger sample size.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.