Optical coherence tomography angiography has potential in diagnosing IRDs

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), a non-invasive imaging modality, can offer detailed information on the vasculature of the retina and the choroid, which has the potential to help characterize and diagnose inherited retinal diseases (IRD), according to a poster presented at the 2022 Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium.

This systematic review and meta-analysis included 44 studies on OCTA and IRD.

There was a statistically significant difference in ≥ 1 of the quantitative outcome measures of foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and/or macular vessel density (VD), but the statistical significance decreased when study data were compiled by disease, and the values of each outcome measure were compared between studies.

FAZ-superficial capillary plexus in eyes with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) was the only outcome measure that remained statistically significant.

The authors concluded that variations in OCT platform, grid size, and data extrapolation methods, in addition to variations in the severity of disease studied in each case series, creates limitation when comparing case series involving OCTA and IRD.

Standardized approaches may help cross-study comparisons and interpretations.

Reference
Lu AQ, et al. Optical coherence tomography angiography in inherited retinal disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Poster presented at: 2022 Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium.