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Updated: Dec 16, 2025
Retinal Vascular Reactivity as Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Published on: March 26, 2020
Retinal Microvasculature Changes After Repair of Macula-off Retinal Detachment Assessed with Optical Coherence
K Matthew McKay1, Filippos Vingopoulos1, Jay C Wang1
1Retina Service, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Objective:
To characterize the microvascular retinal changes after repair of macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A).
Patients And Methods:
A retrospective review of patients who underwent repair of macula-off RRD. Fellow unaffected eyes were used as controls. Post-operative OCT-A allowed comparison of vessel density (VD) and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area in the superficial and deep retinal capillary plexus (DCP) as well as VD in the choriocapillaris layer.
Results:
Seventeen eyes of 17 RRD patients were included in the final analysis. There was a reduction in VD of the deep retinal capillary plexus in affected eyes compared to fellow eyes (p = 0.046). RRD eyes with reduced VD in DCP compared with their fellow control eyes had worse visual acuity after repair compared to those without (p = 0.032). No significant microvasculature changes were detected in the FAZ area and VD in the superficial capillary plexus and choriocapillaris compared to fellow eyes.
Conclusion:
In macula-off RRD eyes, significant microvascular changes were detected in the DCP using OCT-A even after successful anatomical repair. Decreased VD in the DCP compared to the fellow healthy eyes was correlated with worse visual acuity.
