Central serous chorioretinopathy shows reduced retinal circulation in retinal function imaging (RFI)

Purpose Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSR) describes a chorioretinal microvascular disorder which in its active form is characterized by detachment of the neurosensory retina. Current opinion suggests that a combination of choroidal hyperpermeability and an impaired retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) function leads to pooling of serous fluid in the sub‐RPE space. Methods Twelve patients with acute onset of CSR as well as 12 age‐, and sex‐matched control subjects were included into this study. None of the patients has had a history of prior CSR. Prior to inclusion into the study, all patients received a fluorescein‐angiography (FLA), an optical coherence tomography and measurements on the retinal function imager (RFI). Results Flow velocity was 2.76 mm/s in retinal veins and 4.13 mm/s in retinal arteries in the case of the CSR patients. This was in contrast to the findings in the controls. Here the flow velocity was 3.34 mm/s in retinal veins and 4.24 mm/s in retinal arteries. The highest differences of flow velocity were found in the case of the wide retinal veins (2.87 vs. 3.47 mm/s). This difference was highly significant (p=0,003). In the medium sized veins the retinal fow velocity was als significantly different (2.69 vs. 3.42 mm/s). Again this difference was significantly different (p=0,02). The comparison of the retinal arterial vessels did not show any significant differences. Conclusion The findings suggest that the technique applied by the RFI can be helpful to diagnose CSR and to visualize abnormal areas of retinal blood flow in a non‐invasive manner.