NEOVASCULARIZATION SECONDARY TO HIGH MYOPIA IMAGED BY OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY

To describe the optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) characteristics of active myopic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and to compare its sensitivity versus fluorescein angiography and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

Consecutive highly myopic patients complicated with active myopic CNV were prospectively included. The OCTA features were analyzed and correlated with the findings of conventional imaging (spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and fluorescein angiography).

Twenty eyes of 19 patients (mean age: 59.6 ± 12.1 years, mean spherical equivalent: -13.5 ± 3.6 diopters) presenting with both treatment-naive CNV and recurrent CNV were included in the analysis. The OCTA showed a 90% sensitivity for myopic CNV detection in 18 of 20 eyes, revealing a high-flow neovascular network accurately visible using a 30-μm manual segmentation underneath Bruch membrane. Mean selected area of myopic CNV on OCTA images was 0.34 ± 0.45 mm, whereas the mean vessel area was 0.22 ± 0.27 mm. Two neovascular phenotypes prevailed in our series: disorganized vascular loops and organized interlacing patterns.

The OCTA seems to be a valuable tool in detecting myopic CNV with a high sensitivity. However, its specificity needs to be investigated in further studies.