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Analysis of Microvasculature in Children Recovered from COVID-19 Using Swept-Source OCT/OCTA Technology
Tugba Cetinkaya1, Muhammed M Kurt1, Harun Cetinkaya2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Samsun Gazi Community Hospital, Samsun, Turkey.
Purpose:
To analyze structural and vascular changes of the retina and choroid in pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) using optical coherence tomography (OCT)/OCT angiography (OCTA).
Methods:
This comparative cross-sectional study consists of the COVID-19 group including pediatric COVID-19 patients and the control group including healthy children. Vessel density (VD), central macular thickness,, and choroidal thickness (ChT) measurements were performed using swept-source OCT/OCTA 12 weeks after the recovery from COVID-19.
Results:
The mean VD measurements in the central fovea and nasal quadrants of all three retinal layers and choriocapillaris showed insignificantly lower values in the COVID-19 group when compared to the control group (0:002 < p < 0:05 for all). Similar to VD measurements, insignificant lower ChT measurements were obtained in the central fovea and nasal points in the COVID-19 group.
Conclusion:
OCTA can be used as a non-invasive and valid biomarker in the assessment of early microvascular dysfunction associated with COVID-19.
