CAPILLARY PLEXUS ANOMALIES IN DIABETIC RETINOPATHY ON OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the foveal microvasculature in eyes with diabetic retinopathy (DR) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and fluorescein angiography (FA).

Methods: In this retrospective study of 20 eyes of 14 patients with DR imaged using OCTA and FA, clinical features of DR such as microaneurysms, capillary nonperfusion areas, and intraretinal microvascular abnormalities were analyzed.

Results: In the superficial plexus, a rarefaction of capillaries with capillary nonperfusion areas was present in all eyes. Some of these nonperfused areas were not detected on FA and were better delimited on OCTA. Conversely, in the deep plexus, capillary nonperfusion areas were seen only in 35% (7/20) of eyes, whereas DR led to an alteration of the normal capillary vortex pattern in all eyes. Only 62% of microaneurysms visualized on FA were detected by OCTA (P = 0.02). Intraretinal microvascular abnormalities were well detected by both FA and OCTA.

Conclusion: Optical coherence tomography angiography allowed detecting DR anomalies in both superficial and deep capillary plexus in all eyes. The ability of OCTA to detect microaneurysms was lower than that of FA although its accuracy for assessing capillary nonperfusion was better and may enable a proper grading of DR progression.