Patients with central serous chorioretinopathy not only have pachychoroidal disorders but also altered retinal...

The aim of our study was to compare metabolic (oxygen saturation; %) and anatomical (diameter; μm) retinal vessel parameters of patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) to those of controls.

In this prospective cross-sectional cohort study, 72 eyes of patients with CSC were compared with 21 eyes of healthy controls. Of the 72 patients, 52 had chronic, nonactive CSC (subgroup nCSC) and 20 had active CSC (subgroup aCSC), according to activity on fluorescein angiography. Retinal vessel oximetry (RO) was performed using the Oxymap T1 oximeter. Oxygen saturation in all major peripapillary retinal arterioles (A-SO₂ ) and venules (V-SO₂ ) was measured, and their difference (A-V SO₂ ) was calculated. In addition, we evaluated the corresponding diameter in retinal arterioles (D-A) and venules (D-V). For statistical evaluation, ANOVA-based linear mixed-effects models were calculated (SPSS®; p < 0.05).

Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) patients had significantly higher A-SO₂ and V-SO₂ compared to that of controls (p = 0.031 and p = 0.018 respectively). Especially, the subgroup of aCSC patients showed significantly higher A-SO₂ and V-SO₂ values (p = 0.027 and p = 0.034, respectively). In addition, superotemporal and superonasal quadrant location showed significant interactions with A-SO₂ and V-SO₂ (p ≤ 0.03). Diameter in retinal arterioles (D-A), an venules (D-V) and A-V SO₂ findings showed no significant differences (p > 0.096).

These data indicate that patients with CSC have altered metabolic function. The presence of disease activity showed the greatest influence on RO measurement, both compared to controls and to those with inactive chronic CSC disease.