Biomarkers of diabetic retinopathy on optical coherence tomography angiography

Abstract

Pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) is complex and multifactorial, giving rise to a wide range of potential biomarkers - quantitatively and objectively measurable indicators of the biological, pathological processes or pharmacological response to therapy. This non-systemic review is devoted to a vital problem - possibility of using biomarkers acquired with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA-biomarkers) in DR. The review examines the qualitative and quantitative indicators obtained using OCTA as potential biomarkers of DR. Of greatest interest is the assessment of diabetic microvascular abnormalities such as microaneurysms, intraretinal microvascular abnormalities, neovascularization and non-perfusion (ischemia) zones. A separate section is devoted to currently well-studied indices reflecting the area and regularity of the foveolar avascular zone, and microcirculation indices such as capillary perfusion density, blood flow indices, fractal dimension of retinal microcirculation vessels, etc. The relationship of OCTA-biomarkers and diabetic macular edema is also discussed. Biomarkers obtained with wide-field OCTA, such as indices quantitatively reflecting ischemia and neovascularization are paid special attention in the review. The problems and solutions associated with the use of OCTA-biomarkers in DR are also considered. In general OCTA-biomarkers in DR are becoming an important tool for screening, diagnosis, monitoring of DR, and for predicting and preventing patients' clinical response to treatment.