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Observational Study
. 2025 May 28;30(1):426.
doi: 10.1186/s40001-025-02566-8.

Retinal microvasculature alteration in patients with acute pancreatitis: an observational OCTA study

Xian-Zhe Qian  1 , Jin-Yu Hu  1 , Yan-Mei Zeng  1 , Hong Wei  1 , Xiao-Yu Wang  1 , Cheng Chen  1 , Qian-Min Ge  1 , Jie Zou  1 , Xian-Mei Zhou  2 , Qian Ling  1 , Liang-Qi He  1 , Xuan Liao  3 , Yi Shao  4   5
Affiliations
Observational Study

Retinal microvasculature alteration in patients with acute pancreatitis: an observational OCTA study

Xian-Zhe Qian et al. Eur J Med Res. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate changes in retinal layer thickness and microvascular density in pancreatitis patients using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods: The study involved 16 pancreatitis patients and 16 healthy controls. Each participant underwent a superficial OCTA scan, with images divided into nine subregions to compare macular retinal thickness (RT) and superficial vascular density (SVD) between groups.

Results: Pancreatitis patients exhibited reduced retinal thickness in specific macular areas, including inner, full, and outer layers (p < 0.05). Additionally, decreased superficial vascular density was noted in inner superior (IS), outer superior (OS), inner nasal (IN), and outer nasal (ON) regions (p < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed high diagnostic accuracy for full-layer inner superior, outer superior, and outer inferior thickness with areas under the curve of 0.9429, 0.9233, and 0.9990, respectively.

Conclusions: Pancreatitis is associated with macular retinal thinning and decreased superficial vascular density, offering potential for improved diagnostic imaging.

Keywords: Macular region; Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA); Pancreatitis; Retinal thickness; Superficial vascular density.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University and with the Helsinki Declaration (as revised in 2013). Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the editorial office of this journal. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
OCTA images and analysis of RT and SVD for control and pancreatitis groups. A Cross-sectional images of RT using OCTA for the control and pancreatitis groups. Inner RT, full RT, and SVD were measured by ETDRS. B-D Analysis of RT results for the pancreatitis and healthy groups. The ordinate is the value of RT, and the abscissa is the sub-region of the retina. E Analysis of SVD results for the pancreatitis and healthy groups. The ordinate is the value of SVD, and the abscissa is the sub-region of the retina. OCTA optical coherence tomography angiography, RT retinal thickness, SVD superficial vessel density, ETDRS Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study, IS inner superior, OS outer superior, IN inner nasal, ON outer nasal, II inner inferior, OI outer inferior, IT inner temporal, OT outer temporal, C central. * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01; *** P < 0.001
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for RT and SVD. A Area under the ROC curve for full-layer IS, OS, IN, ON, II, OI, IT, OT are 0.9429 (95%CI: 0.8892 to 0.9965), 0.9233 (95%CI: 0.8524 to 0.9943), 0.8604 (95%CI: 0.7728 to 0.9479), 0.9990 (95%CI: 0.9958 to 1.000), 0.7388 (95%CI: 0.6157 to 0.8618), 0.7061 (95%CI: 0.5654 to 0.8467), 0.7925 (95%CI: 0.6827 to 0.9023), 0.8545 (95%CI: 0.7543 to 0.9547), respectively. B The AUC for the inner layers IS, OS, IN, ON, C are 0.7065 (95%CI: 0.5683 to 0.8448), 0.7959 (95%CI: 0.6793 to 0.9125), 0.7100 (95%CI: 0.5747 to 0.8453), 0.8296 (95%CI: 0.7177 to 0.9415), 0.6948
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Correlation between retinal thickness and SVD. A In the healthy control group, the full-layer retinal thickness in the IS region, the full-layer retinal thickness in the OS region, and the outer retinal thickness in the OS region were negatively correlated with the superficial retinal vascular density (r = − 0.394, P = 0.026; r = − 0.624, P < 0.001; r = − 0.566, P < 0.001). B In the pancreatitis group, the outer retinal thickness in the ON region and the inner retinal thickness in the II region were negatively correlated with the superficial vascular density of the retina (r = − 0.364, P = 0.041; r = − 0.375, P = 0.034). SVD superficial vascular density, IS inner superior, OS outer superior, ON outer nasal, II inner inferior
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The relationship between the reduction in superficial vascular density (SVD), the thinning of retinal thickness (RT), and the impairment of visual acuity in patients with pancreatitis. In patients with pancreatitis, a decrease in superficial retinal vascular density in the macular region may lead to a reduction in retinal thickness in the related areas, and a reduction in retinal thickness in the macular region may result in a decline in visual acuity. RT retinal thickness, SVD superficial vascular density
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