ANALYSIS OF VASCULAR CHANGES OF FUNDUS IN BEHCET UVEITIS BY WIDEFIELD SWEPT SOURCE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY AND FUNDUS FLUORESCEIN ANGIOGRAPHY.

PURPOSE: To investigate vascular changes of fundus in quiescent Behçet uveitis (BU) based on widefield swept source optical coherence tomography angiography and fluorescein angiography (FA).

METHOD: This case-control study included 33 patients with quiescent BU (57 eyes)and 35 healthy people (60 eyes) as the control. All participants underwent the widefield swept source optical coherence tomography angiography, and patients with BU additionally underwent the FA. The quantitative analysis of the widefield swept source optical coherence tomography angiography assessed the vessel density of nine anatomical locations in the fundus. Vascular leakage and retinal nonperfusion on FA were assessed in patients with BU.

RESULTS

Compared with the control group using Mann-Whitney U test, patients with BU had enlargement of foveal avascular zone ( P = 0.005, P = 0.04, respectively) and decreased vessel density within a 300 µ m width around the foveal avascular zone ( P = 0.001, P < 0.0001, respectively) both in the superficial and deep retina. Larger foveal avascular zone size and lower 300 µ m width around the foveal avascular zone were correlated with higher logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution best-corrected visual acuity in BU ( P ≤ 0.003, P < 0.0001, respectively). Vessel density of choriocapillaris, as the most widely involved of all layers of the retina and choroid, was lower in six locations ( P ≤ 0.03-0.0001) in the peripheral fundus of BU compared with the controls. Vascular leakage and retinal nonperfusion in the peripheral fundus were observed in 54.4% and 66.7% of the patients on FA.

CONCLUSION

Fovea and peripheral fundus were prone to the damage of ischemia as evidenced by significantly decreased vessel density of capillaries. Combination of swept source optical coherence tomography angiography with FA could accurately evaluate the changes in the retinal and choroidal vasculature in BU.