Three-dimensional choroidal vessels assessment in central serous chorioretinopathy
Nicola Valsecchi1,2,3, Elham Sadeghi1, Nasiq Hasan1
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Purpose:
To assess the choroidal vasculature with a novel three-dimensional (3D) algorithm in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR).
Methods:
Patients with chronic CSCR were retrospectively included. Swept-source optical coherence tomography 12 × 12 mm scans were obtained. Automated choroidal segmentation was performed based on deep-learning ResUNet model. Phansalkar thresholding was adopted to binarize choroidal vasculature. Choroidal vessels were visualized in 3D maps segmented into 5 quadrants. Mean choroidal vessel diameter (MChVD), inter-vessel distance (IVD), choroidal thickness (ChT) and choroidal vascularity index (CVI) were calculated in CSCR and healthy eyes. Linear mixed models were used for analysis.
Results:
Thirty eyes of 25 CSCR patients and 30 eyes of 26 controls were included. Mean age of CSCR group was 51.2 ± 11.4 years, 24% were females. CSCR eyes showed significant increase in ChT and MChVD compared to controls in each sector (p < 0,001), with reduced IVD (p < 0.001). MChVD was increased in complex CSCR compared to simple CSCR in each sector, with significant differences in the nasal (p = 0.021), and temporal sectors (p = 0.020). CVI was reduced in complex CSCR compared to simple CSCR in each sector, with significant differences in the temporal (p = 0.017) and inferior sectors (p = 0.003). IVD in the central sector was reduced in active CSCR compared to inactive CSCR (p = 0.031).
Conclusions:
CSCR eyes demonstrated increased ChT and MChVD and decreased IVD compared to controls. Also, complex CSCR presented increased MChVD, along with reduced CVI compared to simple CSCR. Choroidal 3D vessel assessment represents an innovative non-invasive method to explore choroidal changes in CSCR.
