Peripapillary choroidal vascularity index and thickness in patients with systemic sclerosis

Barbara Pieklarz; Ewa Gińdzieńska-Sieśkiewicz; Izabela Zawadzka; Magdalena Bagrowska; Joanna Daniluk; Patryk Sidorczuk; Otylia Kowal-Bielecka; Joanna Konopińska; Diana Anna Dmuchowska

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1273438

Peripapillary choroidal vascularity index and thickness in patients with systemic sclerosis

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Oct 16:10:1273438. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1273438. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Barbara Pieklarz¹, Ewa Gińdzieńska-Sieśkiewicz², Izabela Zawadzka¹, Magdalena Bagrowska², Joanna Daniluk², Patryk Sidorczuk¹, Otylia Kowal-Bielecka², Joanna Konopińska¹, Diana Anna Dmuchowska¹

Affiliations

¹ Ophthalmology Department, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland.
² Department of Rheumatology and Internal Diseases, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland.

Abstract

Introduction: Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) present an increased risk of developing glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON). We investigated peripapillary choroidal parameters and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) to determine the relationships of these factors with clinical variables.

Methods: A total of 33 patients with SSc were enrolled and compared to 40 controls. After obtaining circular scans around the optic disc, the global and quadrant peripapillary choroidal thickness (pCT) and RNFL thickness were measured. Additionally, the peripapillary choroidal vascularity index (pCVI), which allows for a quantitative analysis of the choroidal vasculature, was determined.

Results: No significant differences were found in pCT and RNFL thickness between patients with SSc and controls, or within SSc subtypes (diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) compared to limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc)) (p > 0.05). The pCVI was significantly lower in patients with SSc than in control subjects (64.25 ± 1.94 vs.65.73 ± 2.12, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that the statistically significant decrease in pCVI in patients with SSc compared to the control group is probably due to a decrease in the vascular layer, which would partially explain an increased risk of GON in patients with SSc.

Keywords: choroidal vascularity index; glaucomatous optic neuropathy; peripapillary choroidal thickness; retinal nerve fiber layer; systemic sclerosis.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland (grant no. SUB/1/DN/22/001/1157).