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Intraretinal microvascular alterations in indirect traumatic optic neuropathy using optical coherence tomography angiography

Eye volume 38, pages 1133–1139 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Purpose

To quantitatively evaluate macular and peripapillary microvascular alterations in patients with indirect traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) compared to normal controls using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) and determine their associations with other ocular parameters.

Methods

We enrolled 33 eyes of 33 patients with TON and 34 eyes of 34 healthy controls. OCT-A was used to generate microvascular structure images of the superficial retinal capillary plexus (SRCP), deep retinal capillary plexus (DRCP), and radial peripapillary capillary (RPC) segment in the macula and peripapillary area. Functional and structural parameters such as best-corrected visual acuity, visual field, peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) thickness, macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (mGCIPL) thickness, OCT-A variables were compared between TON patients and controls. Age, gender, and spherical equivalent refractive errors were statistically adjusted for the analysis.

Results

OCT-A revealed a significant reduction of the average vessel density in the RPC segment in TON patients compared to controls (48.5% ± 6.28 vs. 57.88% ± 3.06%, P < 0.0001, corrected P < 0.0001). When comparing sectors, the vessel density of the RPC segment in TON patients was also significantly lower in all four quadrants compared to healthy controls. The inferior sector vessel density of the RPC segment was significantly associated with visual field defects (P = 0.0253) and visual acuity (P = 0.0369). The temporal sector vessel density of DRCP was also associated with visual field defects (P = 0.0377). The RPC segment in the superior and inferior sector vessel density displayed a significant association with the corresponding regional pRNFL thickness (P = 0.0248 and <0.0001, respectively).

Conclusions

Patients with indirect TON exhibit significant microvascular alterations compared to controls. This study confirms that TON can induce intraretinal microvascular changes and suggests that OCT-A may serve as a useful biomarker for assessing visual functional and structural changes.

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Fig. 1: Representative test results and scatter plots depicting association analyses.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Min Chae Kang, Ji-Yeon Han.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Min Chae Kang, Ji-Yeon Han, Kyung-Ah Park & Sei Yeul Oh

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, HanGil Eye Hospital, Incheon, Korea

    Ga-In Lee

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  1. Min Chae Kang
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Contributions

SYO and KAP designed and conducted the study. GIL, MCK and JH collected the data, managed the study, and interpreted the data. KAP contributed to the review of the manuscript. MCK and JH drafted and revised the manuscript. SYO and KAP have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kyung-Ah Park or Sei Yeul Oh.

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Kang, M.C., Han, JY., Lee, GI. et al. Intraretinal microvascular alterations in indirect traumatic optic neuropathy using optical coherence tomography angiography. Eye 38, 1133–1139 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02839-8

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