Assessment of choriocapillaris and choroidal vascular changes in posterior uveitis using swept-source wide-field optical coherence tomography angiography.

PURPOSE: To evaluate choriocapillaris (CC) and choroidal vascular changes in patients with posterior uveitis using swept-source (SS) wide-field optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

METHOD: Consecutive patients with posterior uveitis were evaluated using 3×3 mm and 12×12 mm OCTA scan patterns and montage images of 5×12×12 mm or 2×15×9 mm, covering approximately 70°-90° of the retina. The images were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed and compared with healthy controls.

RESULTS

Eighty-six eyes of 56 patients with posterior uveitis (mean age 45.2±19.9 years; 58.9% female), and 38 eyes of 19 age-matched healthy controls (57.9% female) were included. The mean perfusion density (PD) in 3×3 mm and 12×12 mm CC scans was significantly lower in eyes with posterior uveitis compared with those of healthy controls. However, no significant difference in the mean PD of choroidal scans was found comparing eyes with posterior uveitis and healthy controls. The mean PD in eyes with active disease was significantly higher compared with the inactive eyes on 12×12 mm choroidal scans (55.61% vs 51.25%, p=0.02), while no difference was found in the CC slabs.

CONCLUSION

CC and choroidal assessment using OCTA provides useful information in patients with posterior uveitis. SS-OCTA metrics of the CC and choroidal slabs are promising tools in uveitis patients in the future.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02811536.