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Updated: Jun 9, 2026
Multimodal Volumetric Retinal Imaging by Oblique Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy oSLO and Optical Coherence Tomography OCT
Published on: August 4, 2018
A Swept source optical coherence tomography angiography study: Imaging artifacts and comparison of non-perfusion
Dominika Podkowinski1,2, Sophie Beka1,2, Anna-Sophie Mursch-Edlmayr1,2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Kepler University Clinic, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria.
Purpose:
Swept Source Optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) is a novel technique to visualize perfusion and vascular changes like ischemia in patients with diabetic retinopathy. The aim of this study was to compare non-perfusion areas on conventional fluorescein angiography (FA) with those on SS-OCTA using detailed manual annotation in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) and to evaluate possible artifacts caused by DME on SS-OCTA.
Methods:
27 eyes of 21 patients with DME were analyzed in this prospective, cross-sectional study; on all, standard ophthalmological examination, SS-OCTA and FA imaging were performed. Early-phase FA and SS-OCTA images were analyzed for capillary dropout and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) was measured on both modalities. Artifacts in SS-OCTA imaging caused by DME were marked and analyzed.
Results:
The mean age of the patients was 62.6 ± 11.5 years. On FA the mean size of the annotated non-perfusion areas was 0.14 ± 0.31 mm2 whereas the mean size in SS-OCTA was 0.04 ± 0.13 mm2; areas marked on FA were statistically significantly larger than on SS-OCTA (p<0.01). Mean size of FAZs was similar between FA and OCTA images. (p = 0.91). Seven eyes (25.9 percent) showed imaging artifacts due to DME in SS-OCTA.
Conclusion:
SS-OCTA is a valid tool to analyze capillary perfusion status of patients with DME, although areas of non-perfusion were measured smaller than in conventional FA. More non-perfusion areas were found on SS-OCTA images. FAZ measurements were similar using the two modalities. However, SS-OCTA is prone to artifacts and therefore requires reviewing of imaging results: up to 25 percent of the analyzed eyes showed artifacts on OCTA, which occurred in the areas of diabetic macular edema and did not correspond to capillary drop out.
