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Eyes with macular ischemia demonstrate reduced capillary perfusion density
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Eyes determined to have macular ischemia by masked qualitative grading of OCT angiography showed a statistically significant decline in capillary perfusion density values when compared with patients in a normal cohort, a speaker said here.
Using the AVATAR study, researchers compared OCTA capillary perfusion density (CPD) measurements in normal eyes and eyes with macular ischemia. Researchers correlated macular CPD measurements with qualitative assessments of ischemia severity and functional measures, Amy S. Babiuch, MD, said at the Retina World Congress.
“As we looked at the correlation between the macular ischemia grading and capillary perfusion density measurements, we saw a high correlation between those only in the parafoveal regions, but not in the foveal regions,” she said.
The cohort included 58 normal eyes and 55 eyes with macular ischemia; grade 1 was defined as being normal without disruption of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ), grade 2 as the outline of FAZ not being smooth or oval but not being clearly pathologic, grade 3 shows that there is destruction of less than half of the circumference, and grade 4 shows that the outline of the FAZ is completely destroyed, Babiuch said.
When visual acuity correlation with CPD was examined, there was only a correlation in the deep parafoveal region. However, when a patient’s visual acuity was examined with the macular ischemia grade that was qualitative, the researchers found a high correlation with both the superficial FAZ grade and the deep FAZ grade, she said.
“As the severity of the qualitative macular ischemia grade increased, the CPD of the superficial and deep parafoveal regions decreased. The categorical assessment of macular ischemia severity was highly correlated to visual acuity, where CPD values had minimal correlation with visual acuity,” Babiuch said. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference:
Babiuch AS. Use of optical coherence tomography angiography capillary perfusion density measurements to detect and grade macular ischemia. Presented at: Retina World Congress; March 21 to 24, 2019; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Disclosure: Babiuch reports she is a consultant for Genentech and receives research support from Genentech, Allergan and Regeneron.