Subclinical Alterations in Retinal Layers and Microvascular Structures with OCTA in ANCA-Associated Vasculitides

Abstract

Purpose: Using OCTA, investigate the capillary network and retinal layers in granulomatosis with ANCA associated vasculitis (AAV) patients who did not manifest apparent ocular involvement and compare the findings with healthy subjects.

Method: The present study, which is designed as a prospective and case-control study, includes 22 AAV patients and 35 control participants. OCTA parameters were noted.

Results: In most of the regions, AMT, RNFL and GC-IPL thicknesses were significantly lower in the AAV group than in the control group. While the vascular indices were lower in the AAV group, except for the center 1 mm region, the FAZ parameters were similar between the two groups.

Conclusion: In AAV patients, subclinical changes in the retinal layers and superficial vascular plexus have been shown. In the future maybe a non-invasive method such as OCTA will become available in scoring systems for prognosis determination in AAV.

Keywords: Birmingham vasculitis activity score; Wegener disease; perfusion density; retinal capillary; vasculitis; vessel density.