OCT Angiography Findings in Macula-ON and Macula-OFF Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment: A Prospective Study

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 9; no. 12; p. 3982
• Main Authors: Barca, Francesco, Bacherini, Daniela, Dragotto, Francesco, Tartaro, Ruggero, Lenzetti, Chiara, Finocchio, Lucia, Virgili, Gianni, Caporossi, Tomaso, Giansanti, Fabrizio, Savastano, Alfonso, Rizzo, Stanislao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09-12-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Clinical medicine; Diabetic retinopathy; Gas absorption; Hemorrhage; Medical imaging; Retinal detachment; Software; Surgeons; Surgery; Tomography; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Scotland; vitrectomy; rhegmatogenous retinal detachment; scleral buckle; optical coherence tomography; retinal detachment; optical coherence tomography angiography
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm9123982

The aim of the study was to evaluate pre-operative and post-operative retinal vasculature using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in patients who underwent rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery repair.
A total of 33 eyes were included in this prospective consecutive observational study: 15 affected by macula-ON and 18 by macula-OFF RRD. Superficial (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area variations were evaluated by OCTA and correlated with visual acuity (VA) during a six-month follow-up.
In the macula-ON group, the preoperative vascular density (VD) of the whole SCP (wSCP) on affected eyes was lower than that of the fellow eyes (
< 0.05); this difference disappeared at 6 months after surgery (
= 0.88). The wSCP VD and the parafoveal SCP (pfSCP) VD increased during follow-up (
< 0.05); moreover, the higher the preoperative wSCP and pfSCP VD, the better the baseline VA (
< 0.05). In the macula-OFF group, at the first and sixth months after surgery, the larger the FAZ, the lower the VA (
< 0.05).
Macula-ON SCP VD affected preoperative VA, and it was lower than the fellow eye, but recovered over time. In the macula-OFF group, a larger FAZ area was related to a worse VA, as is the case in diabetes and in retinal vein occlusion (RVO).