Accuracy and Reliability in Differentiating Retinal Arteries and Veins Using Widefield En Face OCT Angiography

To evaluate the accuracy and reliability in differentiating retinal arteries from veins using widefield optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Ten healthy eyes and 12 eyes from diabetic patients were included. Foveal-centered swept-source OCTA images (12 × 12 mm) were obtained using the PLEX Elite 9000. Vessels were graded as arteries or veins by two independent, masked readers. Arteriovenous crossings were also evaluated in healthy eyes. The vessel identification gold standard was defined using color fundus photographs (CFP) for normal eyes and both CFP and fluorescein angiography for diabetic eyes. Grading accuracy was compared to the gold standard and reliability between readers assessed.

The study evaluated 538 vessels (119 first order, 110 second, 309 third) in healthy eyes and 645 vessels (184 first order, 159 second, 302 third). In healthy eyes, the average accuracies identifying all, first-, second-, and third-order vessels were 98.61%, 99.16%, 100%, and 98.06%, respectively. Cohen's κ between graders in all vessels was 0.948. In diabetic eyes, the average accuracies identifying vessels were 96.90%, 99.46%, 97.77%, and 94.85%, respectively. Cohen's κ between graders for all vessels was 0.888. For crossing identification, the average accuracy and Cohen's κ were low (60.71% and 0.659, respectively).

En face OCTA allows for accurate and reliable artery and vein identification; for small branches and crossings, identification by en face OCTA alone may be less accurate and reliable.

Arteries and veins can be differentiated on OCTA, assisting in clinically identifying pathology as arterial or venous side.