Assessment of Retinal Vessel Tortuosity Index in Patients with Fabry Disease Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA)

Vessel tortuosity (VT) is a parameter used to assess retinal involvement in patients affected by systemic diseases such as Fabry disease (FD). In this study, we assessed a retinal VT index (VTI) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in a group of patients with FD (FD cohort) compared to a healthy control group (HC cohort). This is a single-center, retrospective study analysis of all consecutive patients with genetically tested and confirmed FD who underwent regular ophthalmological visits from December 2017 to January 2020 at the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland. VTI was calculated for each OCTA image and the results were compared between FD and HC cohort. A total of 56 participants, 32 (male:female ratio 12:20) in the FD cohort and 24 (male:female ratio 13:11) in the HC cohort. Classic onset was determined in 18 patients. Overall, mean VTI (±SD) was 0.21 (±0.07). Male patients with classic-onset FD had a significantly higher mean VTI (0.33, SD ± 0.35) compared to all other subgroups (p-value < 0.05). Further investigations of retinal VTI in patients with FD could be helpful to use OCTA as a noninvasive screening and follow-up modality to assess disease progression in affected patients.