Developing a normative database for retinal perfusion using optical coherence tomography angiography

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Retinal Vascular Diseases

Background:

• Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is crucial for understanding ocular diseases like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.
• Current OCTA analysis faces challenges in quantifying peripheral retinal vascularity due to heterogeneous perfusion.
• A normative OCTA database is needed to assess deviations from normal retinal perfusion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an age-dependent normative database for 12x12 mm OCTA images.
• To enable quantitative assessment of retinal perfusion abnormalities.
• To aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of ocular diseases.

Main Methods:

• Acquired 12x12 mm OCTA images from 195 healthy subjects using a swept-source OCT system.
• Employed U-Net for large blood vessel segmentation and a moving window scheme for capillary segmentation.
• Corrected for anatomical factors like fovea-disc position.

Main Results:

• Established an age-dependent normative database for 12x12 mm OCTA images across four age groups.
• Demonstrated the database's utility in characterizing retinal perfusion in diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma patient groups.
• Provided a quantitative tool for assessing retinal vascular abnormalities.

Conclusions:

• The developed age-dependent normative OCTA database facilitates the characterization of retinal perfusion abnormalities.
• This database is valuable for assessing deviations from normal retinal vascularity in ocular pathologies.
• The findings support the use of OCTA for quantitative analysis in clinical ophthalmology.