Open AccessQuantitative assessment of choriocapillaris flow deficits in diabetic retinopathy: A swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography study
Author(s) -
Yining Dai,
Hao Zhou,
Qinqin Zhang,
Zhongdi Chu,
Lisa C. Olmos de Koo,
Jennifer R Chao,
Kasra A. Rezaei,
Steven S. Saraf,
Ke Wang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0243830
Subject(s) - diabetic retinopathy , medicine , ophthalmology , perfusion , blood flow , diabetes mellitus , optical coherence tomography angiography , optical coherence tomography , nuclear medicine , angiography , endocrinology
Purpose To quantitatively assess choriocapillaris (CC) flow deficits in eyes with diabetic retinopathy (DR) using swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA). Methods Diabetic subjects with different stages of DR and age-matched healthy subjects were recruited and imaged with SS-OCTA. The en face CC blood flow images were generated using previously published and validated algorithms. The percentage of CC flow deficits (FD%) and the mean CC flow deficit size were calculated in a 5-mm-diameter circle centered on the fovea from the 6×6-mm scans. Results Forty-five diabetic subjects and 27 control subjects were included in the study. The CC FD% in diabetic eyes was on average 1.4-fold greater than in control eyes (12.34±4.14% vs 8.82±2.61%, P < 0.001). The mean CC FD size in diabetic eyes was on average 1.4-fold larger than in control eyes (2151.3± 650.8μm 2 vs 1574.4±255.0 μm 2 , P < 0.001). No significant difference in CC FD% or mean CC FD size was observed between eyes with nonproliferative DR and eyes with proliferative DR ( P = 1.000 and P = 1.000, respectively). Conclusions CC perfusion in DR can be objectively and quantitatively assessed with FD% and FD size. In the macular region, both CC FD% and CC FD size are increased in eyes with DR. SS-OCTA provides new insights for the investigations of CC perfusion status in diabetes in vivo.