Flow signal change in polyps after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 23;15(10):e0241230. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241230. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a novel, non-invasive imaging tool used to detect vascular flow. The absence of a flow signal in OCTA in polyps revealed by indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) may indicate slow or compromised filling of blood flow from choroidal vessels. Naïve patients with PCV treated with intravitreal injections of aflibercept (IVI-A) were enrolled in this study to validate the hypothesis that baseline flow may affect the outcome of polyp regression in ICGA. The flow signal of polyps in OCTA was detected by manual segmentation in the corresponding location by ICGA. Polyps were defined as high-flow if both OCTA and ICGA showed positive findings, and low-flow if OCTA showed a negative flow signal in 3 consecutive horizontal scans at the polyp area shown in ICGA. A total of 24 polyps were identified in 13 PCV patients at baseline. Of these 24 polyps, 22 (91.7%) were high-flow and 2 (8.3%) were low-flow. After 3 monthly IVI-A, all low-flow polyps had complete regression in ICGA. Among 17 (77%) high-flow polyps at baseline that had regression after treatment, 10 (58.8%) became low-flow, while 5 (22.7%) persistent polyps remained high-flow. Flow signal of polyps as detected by OCTA could be a predictive factor for treatment response in patients with PCV. Monitoring changes in flow signal after treatment is clinically relevant.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Choroidal Neovascularization / diagnostic imaging
  • Choroidal Neovascularization / drug therapy
  • Female
  • Fluorescein Angiography
  • Humans
  • Indocyanine Green
  • Intravitreal Injections
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Polyps / diagnostic imaging
  • Polyps / drug therapy*
  • Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / administration & dosage
  • Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / therapeutic use
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / administration & dosage
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / pharmacology
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / therapeutic use
  • Regional Blood Flow* / drug effects
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted*
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors / metabolism

Substances

  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
  • aflibercept
  • Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
  • Indocyanine Green

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.