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Updated: Dec 18, 2025
Retinal Vascular Reactivity as Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Published on: March 26, 2020
Discordant vascular parameter measurements in diabetic and non-diabetic eyes detected by different optical coherence
Yi Chen1,2,3, Sawarin Laotaweerungsawat1,2,4, Tong Zhao1,2,5
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States of America.
Purpose:
To compare quantitative changes in macular parameters in diabetic patients detected by two optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) instruments.
Methods:
80 phakic eyes were classified as no diabetes, diabetes without diabetic retinopathy (DR), mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and severe NPDR or proliferative DR (PDR). OCTA was performed using devices from two manufacturers (Zeiss and Heidelberg). Superficial and deeper vascular skeleton density (SVSD, DVSD), superficial and deeper vessel area density (SVAD, DVAD), choriocapillaris flow voids (CCFV), and choroidal flow voids (CFV) were calculated. Inter-device comparisons were performed using the size comparison index (SCI) and the discrepancy index (DI).
Results:
The two devices were inconsistent in SVSD, DVSD, DVAD, CCFV and CFV parameters (all P < 0.05). In addition, the SCI was positive for DVAD (all P < 0.001) and negative for SVSD, DVSD, CCFV and CFV in all groups (all P <0.001), except for DVSD in severe NPDR or PDR. The discrepancy index was not significantly different among groups for SVD, SPD, DVD, DPD and CFV (all P> 0.05). The mean DI of CCFV was statistically different between the four groups (P < 0.001).
Conclusions:
The two instruments were largely inconsistent in the measurement of macular parameters relevant to DR. The choice of imaging device can impact OCTA analytics and should be taken into account when drawing conclusions about DR-related changes.
