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

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 p-value p-value = 0.0040), and lower VD choroid values (38.48% ± 15.23 vs. 3.34% ± 0.26; p-value 2 ± 0.35 vs. 0.26 mm2 ± 0.13; p-value 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 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

• retinitis pigmentosa
• OCTA
• optical coherence tomography angiography
• vascular density