The following is a summary of “Associations of quantitative contrast sensitivity with vascular metrics on widefield swept-source OCT angiography across stages of diabetic retinopathy,” published in the May 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Vingopoulos et al.
Understanding how vision (contrast sensitivity) relates to retinal blood vessel patterns in diabetic eye disease is crucial.
Researchers conducted a prospective study analyzing the relationship of CS and widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (WF SS-OCTA) vascular metrics in various stages of diabetic retinopathy (NPDR and PDR without macular edema).
They studied 140 eyes of 99 patients categorized into diabetic retinopathy: 33 mild NPDR, 24 moderate/severe NPDR, 15 PDR, 33 persons with diabetes without DR (DMnoDR), and 46 control eyes. Mixed-effects regression models were used to analyze contrast sensitivity (Adaptive Sensory Technology), vessel density (VD), and vessel skeletonized density (VSD) from widefield OCT angiography (Plex Elite 9000) of the Superficial and deep-capillary plexuses (SCP and DCP) on the same day.
The results showed that standardized ß coefficients showed significant associations between contrast sensitivity (AULCSF) and visual acuity (VA) at 3×3 mm scans: SCP VSD (β=0.32, P<0.001 vs. −0.18, P=0.044), DCP VSD (β=0.30, P<0.001 vs. −0.21, P=0.02), SCP VD (β=0.25, P=0.004 vs. −0.13, P=0.129), DCP VD (β=0.26, P=0.003 vs. −0.19, P=0.034). AULCSF was significantly reduced in mild NPDR (ß= -0.28, P<0.001) and DMnoDR (ß= -0.19, P=0.005) compared to controls. AULCSF performed better than VA in differentiating between controls and DMnoDR (0.69 vs. 0.50) and different NPDR stages, mild (0.76 vs. 0.61) and moderate/severe (0.89 vs. 0.73).
Investigators concluded that DR impacts CS more significantly than VA based on OCTA microvascular changes. CS detects DR earlier and better distinguishes between controls, DMnoDR, and different DR stages compared to VA.
Source: bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2024/05/05/bjo-2023-323900
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