Retinal curvature in myopia: correlation with ocular physiological parameters

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Retinal Imaging

Background:

• Myopia is a growing global health concern.
• Understanding the structural changes in myopic eyes is crucial for management.
• Retinal curvature (RC) is a geometric parameter potentially affected by myopia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between retinal curvature (RC) and ocular physiological parameters in myopic eyes.
• To assess how RC changes with varying degrees of myopia.
• To explore the relationship between RC and choroidal vascularity.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of clinical data from 332 patients (447 myopic eyes).
• Classification into low, moderate, and high myopia based on spherical equivalent (SE) and axial length (AL).
• Acquisition of ultra-widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography (UWF-SS-OCT) scans to create 3D retinal models and derive RC.
• Quantification of retinal vessel density (RVD), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and choroidal parameters using angiography.

Main Results:

• Retinal curvature (RC) decreased significantly with increasing myopia severity.
• RC showed a negative correlation with axial length (AL) and positive correlations with spherical equivalent (SE) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT).
• In the macular and optic disc regions, RC positively correlated with choroidal vascular parameters, including choroidal vessel index (CVI), choroidal stromal volume per unit area (CSV/a), and choroidal vascular volume per unit area (CVV/a).

Conclusions:

• Retinal curvature (RC) effectively quantifies retinal shape and morphological alterations in myopia.
• High myopia is associated with significantly reduced RC.
• RC is correlated with axial length, refractive error, choroidal thickness, and choroidal vascular parameters, highlighting its role in myopic eye changes.