Retinal Microvasculature Alteration in High Myopia.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Vascular Biology

Background:

• High myopia is a significant public health concern.
• Retinal vascular changes may contribute to the pathophysiology of high myopia.
• Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) offers high-resolution imaging of retinal vasculature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate retinal vascular network alterations in highly myopic eyes using OCTA.
• To correlate these vascular changes with axial length and refractive error.

Main Methods:

• Employed OCTA to image superficial, deep, and whole retinal plexuses in highly myopic and control eyes.
• Utilized fractal analysis (box counting method, Dbox) to quantify microvessel density.
• Adjusted for ocular magnification and analyzed correlations between vascular density and ocular parameters.

Main Results:

• Highly myopic eyes exhibited significantly lower superficial retinal microvessel density compared to controls.
• Microvessel alterations were observed across all annular zones in highly myopic eyes.
• Microvessel density showed a significant negative correlation with axial length elongation.

Conclusions:

• Retinal microvascular network alterations are present in high myopia.
• These alterations correlate with axial length elongation, indicating a potential role in myopia progression.
• Fractal analysis of OCTA images may aid in understanding the mechanisms of high myopia.