Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 21:9:620565.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2021.620565. eCollection 2021.

Assessment of Foveal Avascular Zone and Macular Vascular Plexus Density in Children With Unilateral Amblyopia: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lei Gao  1 , Yang Gao  1 , Fengrong Hong  2 , Peng Zhang  1 , Xiangwen Shu  1
Affiliations

Assessment of Foveal Avascular Zone and Macular Vascular Plexus Density in Children With Unilateral Amblyopia: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lei Gao et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the quantitative measurements of OCTA in children with amblyopia using the meta-analysis methodology. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane library were searched for available papers up to March 2021. Weighted mean differences (WMD) were used to compare the retina parameters between the eyes with amblyopia and the contralateral eyes or healthy control eyes. Results: Twelve studies were included. When considering the parafovea, the microvessel density was reduced in amblyopic eyes compared with healthy control eyes in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) in 6 × 6 volume scan (WMD = -2.12, 95%CI: -3.24, -0.99) but not SCP in 3 × 3 volume scan (WMD = -1.43, 95%CI: -2.96, 0.11). In the deep capillary plexus (DCP), amblyopia did not decrease vessel density in the 6 × 6 volume scan (WMD = -2.22, 95%CI: -5.86, 1.42; I 2 = 79.6%, P = 0.008), but a difference was observed in the whole eye 3 × 3 (WMD = -1.95, 95%CI: -3.23, -0.67; I 2 = 27.5%, P = 0.252). There were no significant differences in the foveal avascular zone area and foveal thickness between amblyopic eyes and healthy control eyes. There were no significant differences in microvessel density, foveal avascular zone area, and foveal thickness between amblyopic eyes and fellow eyes. Conclusion: According to OCTA, amblyopic eyes had lower vessel density in parafoveal SCP and DCP compared with healthy control eyes, but not compared with fellow eyes. There were no significant differences regarding the foveal avascular zone area and foveal thickness between amblyopic and non-amblyopic eyes.

Keywords: amblyopia; angiography; fovea; macula; meta-analysis; optical coherence; tomography; unilateral.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of macular vessel density in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) (A) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) (B) of amblyopic eyes compared with healthy control eyes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of foveal avascular zone area of amblyopic eyes compared with healthy control eyes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot of the foveal thickness of amblyopic eyes compared with healthy control eyes.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot of macular vessel density in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) (A) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) (B) of amblyopic eyes compared with fellow eyes.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Forest plot of foveal avascular zone area of amblyopic eyes compared with fellow eyes.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Forest plot of the foveal thickness of amblyopic eyes compared with fellow eyes.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Forest plot of macular vessel density in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) (A) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) (B) of difference between pre-treatment and post-treatment in amblyopic eyes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gunton KB. Advances in amblyopia: what have we learned from PEDIG trials? Pediatrics. (2013) 131:540–7. 10.1542/peds.2012-1622 - DOI - PubMed
    1. DeSantis D. Amblyopia. Pediatr Clin North Am. (2014) 61:505–18. 10.1016/j.pcl.2014.03.006 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pescosolido N, Stefanucci A, Buomprisco G, Fazio S. Amblyopia treatment strategies and new drug therapies. J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. (2014) 51:78–86. 10.3928/01913913-20130107-01 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Taylor K, Elliott S. Interventions for strabismic amblyopia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. (2014) 7:CD006461. 10.1002/14651858.CD006461.pub4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Potts RA, Dreher B, Bennett MR. The loss of ganglion cells in the developing retina of the rat. Brain Res. (1982) 255:481–6. 10.1016/0165-3806(82)90013-x - DOI - PubMed

Publication types