Purpose: To assess inflammatory changes in the anterior vitreous (AV) using a swept source anterior segment optical coherence tomography (SS-ASOCT) and to correlate them with uveitis features and clinical grading of intraocular inflammation.
Methods: 140 eyes from 96 patients were included in this observational, cross-sectional study: 40 ACTIVE uveitis, 40 INACTIVE uveitis and 60 CONTROLS. All eyes underwent intraocular inflammation clinical grading (anterior chamber (AC) cells counting and vitreous haze evaluation) and AV imaging with SS-ASOCT. Cells seen in the AV on OCT were manually counted using imageJ. Vitreous reflectivity variation was indirectly measured by calculating the vitreous/iris pigment epithelium (VIT/IPE) relative intensity. These OCT-based parameters were compared across the groups and correlated with inflammation clinical grading.
Results: The mean [SD] number of AV OCT cells was significantly higher (both p < 0.001) in ACTIVE uveitis (12[9.8]) compared to INACTIVE uveitis (4.5[3.5]) and CONTROLS (4[3.1]). In ACTIVE uveitis the number of AV OCT cells was significantly and positively correlated with the AC cells (p = 0.04), the VIT/IPE relative intensity (p = 0.0002), the uveitis anatomical classification (INTERMEDIATE UVEITIS, p = 0.02) and the vitreous haze clinical grading (p < 0.0001). The mean[SD] VIT/IPE relative intensity of the AV increased from CONTROLS (0.12[0.01]) to INACTIVE uveitis (0.15[0.01]) to ACTIVE uveitis (0.17[0.02]), but with no statistically significant differences.
Conclusions: We were able to visualize and objectively evaluate changes occurring in the AV in eyes with uveitis by means of a commercially available SS-ASOCT. OCT-cells in the AV could represent an adjunctive tool in the objective evaluation of intraocular inflammation.
Keywords: Anterior vitreous; cells; objective grading; optical coherence tomography; uveitis.