Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for the Evaluation of Retinal and Choroidal Vasculature in Retinitis Pigmentosa: A Monocentric Experience

Fabrizio Giansanti; Giulio Vicini; Andrea Sodi; Cristina Nicolosi; Lavinia Bellari; Gianni Virgili; Stanislao Rizzo; Daniela Bacherini

doi:10.3390/diagnostics12051020

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for the Evaluation of Retinal and Choroidal Vasculature in Retinitis Pigmentosa: A Monocentric Experience

Diagnostics (Basel). 2022 Apr 19;12(5):1020. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12051020.

Authors

Fabrizio Giansanti^{1

2}, Giulio Vicini^{1

2}, Andrea Sodi^{1

2}, Cristina Nicolosi^{1

2}, Lavinia Bellari², Gianni Virgili^{1

2}, Stanislao Rizzo^{3

4}, Daniela Bacherini^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Eye Clinic, Neuromuscular and Sense Organs Department, Careggi University Hospital, 50134 Florence, Italy.
² Department of Neurosciences, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, Italy.
³ Ophthalmology Unit, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, 00168 Rome, Italy.
⁴ Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy.

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the chorioretinal microvascular changes in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: Twenty-six patients (52 eyes) affected by RP were compared with 19 healthy controls (38 eyes). OCTA 3 mm × 3 mm macular scans were performed in all subjects. We evaluated the vessel density (VD) of the superficial capillary plexus (VD SCP), deep capillary plexus (VD DCP), choriocapillaris (VD CC), and choroid (VD choroid). We also evaluated the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, and the correlation between clinical and OCTA parameters. We also measured central retinal thickness (CRT) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT). Results: RP patients compared to healthy controls showed significantly lower VD SCP values (27.56% ± 15.37 vs. 49.39% ± 1.55; p-value < 0.0001), lower VD DCP values (38.43% ± 15.23 vs. 3.34% ± 0.26; p-value < 0.0001), lower VD CC values (46.02% ± 1.293 vs. 50.63% ± 0.4274; p-value = 0.0040), and lower VD choroid values (38.48% ± 15.23 vs. 3.34% ± 0.26; p-value < 0.0001). Even the FAZ area was significantly lower in RP patients (0.45 mm2 ± 0.35 vs. 0.26 mm2 ± 0.13; p-value < 0.0001). The FAZ area was larger with increasing age, both in control (r = 0.42; p = 0.012) and RP group (r = 0.46; p-value = 0.009). In RP patients, there was a statistically significant correlation between best-corrected visual acuity and VD SCP (r = 0.24, p-value = 0.04) and VD DCP (r = 0.52; p-value = 0.0004) and between subfoveal choroidal thickness and VD SCP (r = 0.43, p-value < 0.001) and VD DCP (r = 0.35, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: In our study, OCTA reported relevant vascular alterations in RP patients in comparison with the healthy controls, in agreement with the published literature. These abnormalities were associated with choroidal atrophy and related to visual acuity loss. OCTA provided clinically significant information and may represent a reliable tool for the management of RP patients.

Keywords: OCTA; optical coherence tomography angiography; retinitis pigmentosa; vascular density.