Special Issue "Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) as a New Diagnostic Tool in Ocular and Systemic Diseases—2nd Edition"

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Diagnostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2023 | Viewed by 4113

Special Issue Editors

Department of Neurosciences, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health Eye Clinic, University of Florence, AOU Careggi, 50139 Florence, Italy
Interests: retinal imaging; medical retina; OCT; OCT angiography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Stanislao Rizzo
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Ophthalmology Unit, "Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS", Rome, Italy
2. Ophthalmology Unit, Catholic University "Sacro Cuore", Rome, Italy
3. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Neuroscienze, Pisa, Italy
Interests: surgical retina
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Giansanti
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neurosciences, Psychology, Drug Research, and Child Health, Eye Clinic, University of Florence, AOU Careggi, 50139 Florence, Italy
Interests: surgical retina; medical retina
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Diagnostics Editorial Team, I am delighted to present a Special Issue on the topic of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) as a new diagnostic tool in clinical disease.

Currently we are assisting in an evolution and revolution of retinal diagnostic imaging. Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) is increasingly becoming a popular tool for retinal imaging in many retinal diseases, where it provides new and useful insights. It allows a rapid, non-invasive, and detailed evaluation of the retinal and choroidal vascular networks allowing the evaluation of the retina-choroidal flow layer by layer, with a separated evaluation of the different retinochoroidal plexi that may be involved individually or separately in various pathological diseases. OCTA can provide a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the retinal and choroidal microvascularization. There is growing interest in the potential role of OCTA in providing early diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers. This is why an increased interest in this new retinal imaging tool is also emerging in the field of systemic non-ocular pathologies.

This Special Issue aims to evaluate the use of OCTA as a new diagnostic tool in ocular and systemic pathologies in order to evaluate the possibility of obtaining new potential diagnostic biomarkers and to create a multidisciplinary integration between clinical medicine and the field of retinal imaging.

After all, the retina is a window on our central nervous system and vascularization; it would be interesting if we could also let our non-ophthalmologist colleagues look into this window.

The accepted papers will describe new applications in these areas. This Special Issue accepts high-quality articles containing original research results and case reports, as well as review articles.

Dr. Daniela Bacherini
Prof. Dr. Stanislao Rizzo
Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Giansanti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
  • non-invasive retinal imaging
  • biomarkers

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Article
Analysis of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) Parameters in Young Adults after SARS-CoV-2 Infection (COVID-19) Compared with Healthy Young Controls
Diagnostics 2023, 13(7), 1283; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13071283 - 28 Mar 2023
Viewed by 770
Abstract
Purpose: To compare retinal changes in young adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection with healthy young controls using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: This prospective single-center study was conducted at the University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Participants [...] Read more.
Purpose: To compare retinal changes in young adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection with healthy young controls using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: This prospective single-center study was conducted at the University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Participants were imaged from May to November 2021 using the SOLIX device (Visionix International SAS, Pont-de-l’Arche, France). We performed 12 mm × 12 mm, 6.4 mm × 6.4 mm, 6 mm × 6 mm and 3 mm × 3 mm OCT and OCTA scans, as well as fundus photography of each participant’s eyes. Results: In total, 466 participants were imaged. Of these, 233 were healthy controls with negative RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2, 168 were young adults who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection at least 180 days previously, 19 were participants who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection < 180 days previously, and 46 were participants with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection (i.e., serologically positive but with no symptoms). Compared with healthy controls, statistically significant differences were found for OCTA recordings of the optic disc for the whole image (WI) and WI capillary vessel density, with both being higher in the SARS-CoV-2 group. Conclusion: Statistically significant results were only observed for selected variables, and in parts, only unilaterally, with relatively large p values (p = 0.02–0.03). Thus, we did not interpret these as clinically significant, leading to the conclusion that young and otherwise healthy individuals (mainly men) seem to recover from mild COVID-19 infections with no ophthalmological residues. Full article
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Article
Relationship of Vessel Density to Vessel Length Density in Patients with Treated Fabry Disease
Diagnostics 2023, 13(7), 1227; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13071227 - 24 Mar 2023
Viewed by 477
Abstract
Background: Fabry disease (FD) is a potentially lethal lysosomal disorder with systemic vascular changes. Previous studies demonstrated retinal vascular involvement using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in affected patients; Aim: To analyze and quantify the retinal vasculature measuring vessel density (VD), vessel length [...] Read more.
Background: Fabry disease (FD) is a potentially lethal lysosomal disorder with systemic vascular changes. Previous studies demonstrated retinal vascular involvement using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in affected patients; Aim: To analyze and quantify the retinal vasculature measuring vessel density (VD), vessel length density (VLD), and the ratio of VD to VLD (VD/VLD) in superficial capillary plexuses (SCP) and deep capillary plexuses (DCP) using OCTA in patients with FD and to show whether they differ from healthy controls (HC); Patients and methods: Single-center, retrospective, consecutive cohort study of patients with genetically proven FD. Patients underwent an ophthalmological examination including OCTA. VD, VLD, foveal avascular zone (FAZ), and the VD/VLD were compared to an HC group using a linear mixed model; Results: A statistically significant difference in the VLD and VD/VLD of DCP was observed between the two groups (p < 0.001). Using ROC curves with AUC and Youden’s Index, a cut-off value for differentiating both groups using VD/VLD in DCP FD with high specificity and high sensitivity was established; Conclusions: FD and HC groups seem to be separable using the VD/VLD ratio in DCP. This new biomarker might differentiate changes in the retinal microvasculature that are not detectable by VD or VLD alone. Full article
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Article
Microvascular Changes after Scleral Buckling for Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment: An Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Study
Diagnostics 2022, 12(12), 3015; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12123015 - 01 Dec 2022
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Abstract
This retrospective study aimed to investigate macular microvascular alterations after successful scleral buckling (SB) for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Nineteen eyes with macula-on RRD and 18 eyes with macula-off RRD were included. In all cases, an encircling band was placed. Optical coherence tomography [...] Read more.
This retrospective study aimed to investigate macular microvascular alterations after successful scleral buckling (SB) for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Nineteen eyes with macula-on RRD and 18 eyes with macula-off RRD were included. In all cases, an encircling band was placed. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was performed at baseline and postoperatively. Changes in the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area and vessel density (VD) of the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) were the primary outcomes. Correlations between OCTA findings and clinical variables were considered secondary outcomes. In both the macula-on and macula-off groups, the FAZ area was comparable with controls. In the macula-on group, VD in the whole SCP was lower compared with controls at both baseline (p < 0.001) and 6 months (p = 0.03), but showed a significant increase after surgery (p = 0.004). In the macula-off group, postoperative VD in both whole SCP and whole DCP was lower compared with controls (p < 0.001). In the macula-on group, there was an inverse correlation between axial length increase and SCP VD change (r = −0.508; p = 0.03). These findings demonstrated microvascular alterations after SB for RRD. However, VD impairment seems to be mitigated after surgery. A greater increase in postoperative axial length was associated with a poorer VD outcome. Full article
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Article
Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy Retromode Imaging Compared to Fundus Autofluorescence in Detecting Outer Retinal Features in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy
Diagnostics 2022, 12(11), 2638; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112638 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 717
Abstract
Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is a retinal disease characterized by a heterogeneous clinical phenotype, depending on the influence of different factors in its pathogenesis, including the presence of subretinal fluid (SRF), trophism of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and choroidal hyper-permeability. Our study [...] Read more.
Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is a retinal disease characterized by a heterogeneous clinical phenotype, depending on the influence of different factors in its pathogenesis, including the presence of subretinal fluid (SRF), trophism of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and choroidal hyper-permeability. Our study has the purpose of assessing the ability of scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) retromode imaging, compared to fundus autofluorescence (FAF), to identify outer retinal features in a cohort of patients with a diagnosis of CSCR. A total of 27 eyes of 21 patients were enrolled in our study. All patients underwent full ophthalmological examination, including fundus retinography, fundus fluorescein angiography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), FAF and SLO retromode imaging. For each patient, the following features were evaluated: SRF, the presence of pigmented epithelium detachment (PED), RPE dystrophy, and RPE atrophy. RPE dystrophy was further characterized according to the appearance in FAF of iso-, hyper- and hypo-autofluorescent dystrophy. The ability to identify each feature was evaluated for FAF and SLO retromode alone, compared to a multimodal imaging approach. FAF identified SRF in 11/14 eyes (78%), PED in 14/19 (74%), RPE dystrophy with iso-autofluorescence in 0/13 (0%), hyper-autofluorescence in 18/19 (95%), hypo-autofluorescence in 20/20 (100%), and RPE atrophy in 7/7 (100%). SLO retromode imaging identified SRF in 13/14 eyes (93%), PED in 15/19 (79%), RPE dystrophy with iso-autofluorescence in 13/13 (100%), hyper-autofluorescence in 13/19 (68%), hypo-autofluorescent in 18/20 (90%), and RPE atrophy in 4/7 (57%). SLO retromode imaging is able to detect retinal and RPE changes in CSCR patients with a higher sensitivity than FAF, while it is not able to identify the depth of lesions or supply qualitative information about RPE cells’ health status, meaning that it is less specific. SLO retromode imaging may have a promising role in the assessment of patients with CSCR, but always combined with other imaging modalities such as OCT and FAF. Full article
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Article
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for the Evaluation of Retinal and Choroidal Vasculature in Retinitis Pigmentosa: A Monocentric Experience
Diagnostics 2022, 12(5), 1020; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12051020 - 19 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 948
Abstract
Purpose: We investigated the chorioretinal microvascular changes in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: Twenty-six patients (52 eyes) affected by RP were compared with 19 healthy controls (38 eyes). OCTA 3 mm × 3 mm macular scans [...] Read more.
Purpose: We investigated the chorioretinal microvascular changes in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: Twenty-six patients (52 eyes) affected by RP were compared with 19 healthy controls (38 eyes). OCTA 3 mm × 3 mm macular scans were performed in all subjects. We evaluated the vessel density (VD) of the superficial capillary plexus (VD SCP), deep capillary plexus (VD DCP), choriocapillaris (VD CC), and choroid (VD choroid). We also evaluated the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, and the correlation between clinical and OCTA parameters. We also measured central retinal thickness (CRT) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT). Results: RP patients compared to healthy controls showed significantly lower VD SCP values (27.56% ± 15.37 vs. 49.39% ± 1.55; p-value < 0.0001), lower VD DCP values (38.43% ± 15.23 vs. 3.34% ± 0.26; p-value < 0.0001), lower VD CC values (46.02% ± 1.293 vs. 50.63% ± 0.4274; p-value = 0.0040), and lower VD choroid values (38.48% ± 15.23 vs. 3.34% ± 0.26; p-value < 0.0001). Even the FAZ area was significantly lower in RP patients (0.45 mm2 ± 0.35 vs. 0.26 mm2 ± 0.13; p-value < 0.0001). The FAZ area was larger with increasing age, both in control (r = 0.42; p = 0.012) and RP group (r = 0.46; p-value = 0.009). In RP patients, there was a statistically significant correlation between best-corrected visual acuity and VD SCP (r = 0.24, p-value = 0.04) and VD DCP (r = 0.52; p-value = 0.0004) and between subfoveal choroidal thickness and VD SCP (r = 0.43, p-value < 0.001) and VD DCP (r = 0.35, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: In our study, OCTA reported relevant vascular alterations in RP patients in comparison with the healthy controls, in agreement with the published literature. These abnormalities were associated with choroidal atrophy and related to visual acuity loss. OCTA provided clinically significant information and may represent a reliable tool for the management of RP patients. Full article
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