Increased papillary microcirculation in inactive uveitis patients by optical coherence tomography angiography

Abstract

Aim: To quantitatively analyze the vascular and structure abnormalities in the papillary areas in eyes with noninfectious uveitis during different periods using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: Forty eyes of 40 uveitis patients in the acute phase, 12 eyes of 12 patients with inactive uveitis and 21 eyes of 21 healthy controls were included in this study. RPCvd% and pRNFL thickness in different regions were automatically measured and calculated by OCTA. Correlation between RPCvd% and pRNFL was assessed. Results: RPCvd% was significantly higher in uveitis-inactive eyes than in active eyes in the inferior quadrant (p = 0.036), whole image (p = 0.041) and inferior nasal (p = 0.001) sector. The RPCvd% in active uveitis eyes was lower compared to healthy eyes in the inside disc sector (p = 0.026). pRNFL was notably greater in the active group compared to the healthy group. Positive correlations were identified between pRNFL and RPCvd% both in active and inactive uveitis eyes. Conclusions: Compared with active uveitis, papillary microcirculation showed a significant improvement in inactive uveitis eyes (anterior or pan-uveitis). RPCvd% may serve as a sensitive indicator to supervising uveitis progression and treatment response using OCTA.