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Relationship between Functional and Structural Changes in Diabetic Vessels in Optical Coherence Tomography
Yuko Miwa1, Tomoaki Murakami1, Kiyoshi Suzuma1
1Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Scientific Reports
|June 29, 2016
Summary
Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and en-face OCT imaging provide detailed views of retinal vasculature in diabetic retinopathy (DR). These methods correlate well with fluorescein angiography (FA) for visualizing lesions like microaneurysms and the foveal avascular zone (FAZ).
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Medical Imaging
- Diabetic Retinopathy Research
Background:
- Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision loss, characterized by retinal vascular abnormalities.
- Accurate visualization of these vascular changes is crucial for understanding DR pathogenesis and progression.
- Current imaging modalities like fluorescein angiography (FA) have limitations in depicting specific vascular structures and flow dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the structural and functional characteristics of vascular lesions in diabetic retinopathy (DR) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), en-face optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescein angiography (FA).
- To evaluate the correlation between these imaging techniques in visualizing key features of DR, such as the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and microaneurysms.
- To enhance the understanding of the associations and dissociations between blood flow and vascular structures in DR.
Main Methods:
- Comparative imaging study involving 53 eyes from 28 patients diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy (DR).
- Utilized fluorescein angiography (FA), optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), and en-face OCT imaging.
- Analyzed and compared the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) areas and microaneurysm detection rates across the different imaging modalities.
Main Results:
- Foveal avascular zone (FAZ) areas in OCTA and en-face OCT images showed good correlation with FA, though en-face OCT delineated smaller FAZ areas.
- Microaneurysms appeared as distinct capillary structures in OCTA and hyperreflective lesions in en-face OCT.
- OCTA and en-face OCT detected a significant proportion of microaneurysms identified by FA, with correlated numbers across modalities.
Conclusions:
- OCTA and en-face OCT are valuable tools for visualizing retinal vascular changes in diabetic retinopathy (DR), complementing traditional FA.
- These advanced OCT-based techniques offer complementary insights into the relationship between vascular structure and blood flow in DR.
- The findings improve the understanding of DR pathogenesis by highlighting the associations and dissociations between flow and structure.
