Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Biomarkers of Retinal Thickness and Microvascular Alterations in Sjogren's Syndrome

Ren Liu; Yan Wang; Qiuyu Li; Qiang Xia; Tian Xu; Ting Han; Shuang Cai; Shuilin Luo; Rui Wu; Yi Shao

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.853930

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Biomarkers of Retinal Thickness and Microvascular Alterations in Sjogren's Syndrome

Front Neurol. 2022 Mar 8:13:853930. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.853930. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ren Liu¹, Yan Wang¹, Qiuyu Li², Qiang Xia¹, Tian Xu¹, Ting Han¹, Shuang Cai¹, Shuilin Luo¹, Rui Wu¹, Yi Shao²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rheumatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
² Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Province Ocular Disease Clinical Research Center, Nanchang, China.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the differences of retinal thickness (RT) and superficial vascular density (SVD) between patients with Sjogren's syndrome (SS) and healthy controls (HCs) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods: Individuals with SS and healthy controls were enrolled (n = 12 per group). An en-face OCTA scan was performed on each eye. Images were segmented into 9 subregions and macular RT and SVD were measured and compared between the 2 groups.

Results: Visual acuity (VA) differed significantly between patients with SS (24 eyes) and controls (24 eyes) (p < 0.001). In patients with SS, inner RT was reduced in the inner superior region, outer RT was reduced in the outer nasal (ON) region, and full RT was reduced in the ON region compared with the control group (p < 0.05). RT was negatively correlated with serum IgG level in the outer and full retina at ON regions (p < 0.05). SVD in the inner nasal, ON, and inner temporal regions was significantly lower in patients with SS than in control subjects (p < 0.05). SVD was positively correlated with full RT in the ON region in patients with SS (p < 0.05). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the diagnostic sensitivity of outer RT and full RT in the ON region for SS were 0.828 (95% CI: 0.709-0.947) and 0.839 (95% CI: 0.715-0.963), respectively.

Conclusions: In patients with SS, retinal thinning in the macular area-which affects vision-can also reflect the severity of dry eyes in SS and has clinical value for assisted imaging diagnosis.

Keywords: Sjogren's syndrome; biomarker; optical coherence tomography angiography; retinal thickness; vascular density.