Difference in Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Parameters After SARS-CoV-2 Infection During the Alpha and...

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Virology
• Microcirculation

Background:

• SARS-CoV-2 infection presents varied clinical symptoms, with severity potentially linked to specific viral variants.
• COVID-19's impact on ocular microcirculation is known, but differences across SARS-CoV-2 lineages remain uninvestigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare ocular microcirculatory changes in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
• To assess if ocular microvascular effects differ between the Alpha and Delta lineages of SARS-CoV-2.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study comparing patients with Alpha or Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants to a control group.
• OCTA measurements included vessel density (VD) in superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and choriocapillaris (CCP).
• Manual assessment of foveal avascular zones in SCP (FAZs) and DCP (FAZd) was performed.

Main Results:

• No ocular symptoms were reported in either variant group during examination.
• The Delta group exhibited significantly lower VD in SCP and DCP across all quadrants (p < 0.001-0.039).
• The Alpha group showed reduced foveal CCP VD (p = 0.005) and significantly wider FAZs and FAZd (p = 0.002 for both).

Conclusions:

• Ocular microcirculatory alterations differ between SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants.
• Alpha variant infection is associated with foveal choroidal VD reduction and enlarged FAZs.
• Delta variant infection is linked to decreased SCP and DCP VD in multiple regions, necessitating variant-specific COVID-19 patient follow-up.