Changes in choroidal morphological and vascular characteristics following intravitreal therapy for central retinal vein occlusion

Author: Nurettin Bayram (Turkey)

Co-authors: Medine Gündoğan, Cemal Ozsayili, Emine Pangal

Purpose

We aimed to evaluate the changes in the choroidal morphological and vascular features in the setting of central retinal vein occlusion following intravitreal therapy.

Setting/Venue

A retrospective comparative study at a single tertiary center.

Methods

Twenty-six patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) treated with intravitreal injections between January 2016 and January 2021 were assessed. Consecutive participants underwent choroidal imaging using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) with enhanced depth imaging (EDI). EDI-OCT images were binarised using ImageJ (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda) software. Macular (6 mm region) and subfoveal (1.5 mm region) areas of the vascular, stromal, and total choroid were measured. The choroidal vascularity index (CVI), the proportion of the stromal area to the total choroidal area, was calculated. All choroidal parameters of the CRVO eyes were compared with fellow eyes and the eyes of age-, gender-, and systemic comorbidity-matched controls.

Results

The CRVO patients include 12 females (46.2%) and 14 males (53.8%) with a mean age of 64.1 ± 12.4 years. The stromal area and total choroidal area in both subfoveal (1.5 mm centered on the fovea) and submacular (6 mm centered on the fovea) regions were significantly reduced in the eyes of the patients with CRVO after intravitreal injections (for all, p less than 0.05). The mean choroidal thickness and CVI were significantly lower in the patients' eyes with CRVO compared to both fellow and control eyes (p = 0.000).

Conlusions

CRVO causes choroidal morphological and vascular changes. These findings may have predictive values to assess the severity and prognosis of patients with CRVO.

Financial Disclosure

The authors declare no potential conflicts and funding sources.

Comments

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