Ocular blood flow and retinal, choroidal, and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in children with familial Mediterranean fever with at least five attacks

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate ocular blood flow and, retinal, choroidal and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in children with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) with patients who had at least five attacks.

Methods: Fifty-six patients with FMF and 56 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. Each participant's choroidal thickness (CT) and retinal thickness (RT) measurements were performed in the foveola and at horizontal nasal and temporal quadrants within 500-μm intervals up to 1.500 μm from the foveola using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography as well as the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT). Disc boundaries were determined manually by identifying seven points on the inner edge of the scleral ring. Following complete ophthalmological evaluation, peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), and resistivity index (RI) values in the central retinal artery (CRA), ophthalmic artery (OA), and nasal posterior ciliary artery (NPCA) were measured using color Doppler ultrasonography (CDU) in the left eyes of the patients diagnosed with FMF and the controls. The results were subsequently compared.

Results: No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of all RNFLT quadrant and RT measurements. All CT measurements were thinner in patients with FMF than in the controls (For Central and Temporal_1500 p = 0.01; For Temporal_500, Nasal 500 and Nasal_1000 p < 0.001; Temporal_1000 p = 0.002) except than the Nasal_1500 point. For nasal_1500 p = 0.121). The PSV and EDV values in the OA, CRA, and NPCA were significantly lower in patients with FMF compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001 for all). In contrast, the RI values of all arteries were significantly higher than in the control group (Regarding OA, CRA and NPCA RI, p = 0.003, p = 0.039, and p = 0.039, respectively).

Conclusions: The results of this study support the idea that chronic inflammation and frequent attacks in FMF may have an effect on decreased ocular blood flow and choroidal thinning.

Keywords: Choroidal thickness; FMF; Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness; Retinal thickness.