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Updated: Jul 11, 2026
Retinal Vascular Reactivity as Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Published on: March 26, 2020
Swept-Source OCT and OCT Angiography B-Scan Analysis of Inflammatory Retinal Vascular Changes: Quantitative and
Yuka Mizuno1, Sunil K Srivastava1, Sandeep Singh1
1Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
Purpose:
To describe swept-source OCT and OCT angiography (OCTA) B-scan findings in inflammatory retinal vascular changes.
Design:
Observational cross sectional study of prospectively enrolled patients.
Participants:
A total of 87 eyes from 50 patients with inflammatory retinal vascular changes.
Methods:
Swept-source OCTA, which provides both structural OCT and OCTA B-scan data, and ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography were obtained on the same day or within 2 weeks. Structural OCT and OCTA B-scans corresponding to vessel points with inflammatory findings on fluorescein angiography were analyzed for vascular and perivascular structural changes. In eyes with comparable active and inactive phases, B-scan parameters were measured and their changes were compared.
Main Outcome Measures:
Retinal thickness and elevation ratio, outer nuclear layer (ONL) thinning ratio, horizontal and vertical flow signal diameters of retinal veins and arteries, and perivascular changes.
Results:
The mean age was 42.9 years. Hyporeflective and/or hyperreflective perivascular changes were observed around the flow signal in the active phase. The mean retinal thickness significantly decreased from 318.5 μm in the active phase to 260.3 μm in the inactive phase (P < 0.01) for veins, and 300.5 to 247.0 μm (P < 0.01) for arteries. The mean vertical flow signal diameter for veins decreased from 154.5 to 134.5 μm (P < 0.01) and, for arteries, from 104.8 to 92.0 μm (P = 0.07). The mean horizontal flow signal diameters for veins changed from 145.0 to 130.1 μm (P = 0.07) and, for arteries, from 80.1 to 79.5 μm (P = 0.72). The mean retinal elevation ratio for veins significantly decreased from 1.15 to 1.06 (P < 0.01) and, for arteries, 1.09 to 1.05 (P = 0.08). The mean ONL thinning ratio for veins was 0.74 in the active phase and 0.81 in the inactive phase (P < 0.01), and, for arteries, 0.90 and 0.95 (P = 0.90), respectively.
Conclusions:
OCT and OCTA B-scan data identified significant changes in retinal thickness, elevation ratio, ONL thinning ratio, and vertical flow signal diameter of veins between the active and inactive phases of inflamed retinal vessels. Additionally, OCT B-scan identified unique perivascular changes, suggesting its potential in identifying inflammatory activity.
Financial Disclosure(S):
Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.
