Retinal Vein Occlusion Disease Research Articles

Hypermixed Convolutional Neural Network for Retinal Vein Occlusion Classification.

Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is one of the most common retinal vascular diseases leading to vision loss if not diagnosed and treated in time. RVO can be classified into two types: CRVO (blockage of the main retinal veins) and BRVO (blockage of one of the smaller branch veins). Automated diagnosis of RVO can improve clinical workflow and optimize treatment strategies. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are few reported methods for automated identification of different RVO types. In this study, we propose a new hypermixed convolutional neural network (CNN) model, namely, the VGG-CAM network, that can classify the two types of RVOs based on retinal fundus images and detect lesion areas using an unsupervised learning method. The image data used in this study is collected and labeled by three senior ophthalmologists in Shanxi Eye Hospital, China. The proposed network is validated to accurately classify RVO diseases and detect lesions. It can potentially assist in further investigating the association between RVO and brain vascular diseases and evaluating the optimal treatments for RVO.

Angle detection system for crossing compression of retinal artery and vein

The crossing compression of retinal artery and vein is closely related to retinal vein occlusion, so detecting the contraction angle of the crossed vein blood vessel can assist to diagnose the retinal vein occlusion diseases. Through pretreating methods such as filtering, enhancement and edge extraction, the binary edge images can be extracted. The candidate feature points can be obtained by the corner point detection method based on chord-to-point distance accumulation (CPDA). The self-adaptive rectangular filter is used to screen out the crossing point of candidate angle, so as to fit the edge curves and figure out the contraction degree of vein. The experimental results show that this algorithm can better detect the contraction degree of crossed vein blood vessel, with an average error remaining at ± 1∘ under different resolutions.

Suspended scattering particles in motion using OCT angiography in branch retinal vein occlusion disease cases with cystoid macular edema

We aimed to investigate the clinical implication of suspended scattering particles in motion (SSPiM) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) among branch retinal vein occlusion disease (BRVO) cases with macular edema (ME). Medical records of BRVO patients were reviewed. Central retinal thickness (CRT), ME type, and cyst size on optical coherence tomography images were evaluated before and after intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Nonperfusion area, SSPiM, and microvascular abnormalities in OCTA images were evaluated using a Heidelberg machine. SSPiM was identified in 24 of 56 cases. There were no differences in baseline characteristics between groups with and without SSPiM. Disease duration, disease-free duration, previous injection number, microaneurysms in the superficial vascular complex, and microaneurysms in the deep vascular complex (DVC) (p = 0.003, 0.013, 0.028, 0.003, < 0.001, respectively) differed significantly between the two groups. After multivariate logistic analysis, microaneurysms in the DVC were the only different factor between the two groups (odds ratio [OR]: 0.091; p = 0.001). Furthermore, SSPiM in the DVC (OR 10.908; p = 0.002) and nonperfusion grade (OR 0.039; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with cyst response after intravitreal injection. SSPiM may be correlated with microaneurysms in the DVC and a poor anatomical response after intravitreal injection.

Life style disorders in ophthalmology and their management

Lifestyle disorder defined as disease linked with the way people live their life. A WHO report opines that in many middle income and industrialized countries eye condition have emerged as potential threats to the status of sight and their populations. These being diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration, cataract, retinal vein occlusion disease and dry eye. Out all these life style diseases the most contributing factors affecting visual health are metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia etc. To combat these situations Ayurveda can also offer many management skills that are put forth in this article.

A light-emitting diode (LED)-based multispectral imaging system in evaluating retinal vein occlusion.

Retinal vein occlusion (RVO), the second most common retinal vascular disorder worldwide, is considered to be a critical cause of visual loss. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of eyes with RVO using a light-emitting diode (LED)-based multispectral imaging (MSI) system and to compare its performance in terms of reliability and diagnostic power with those of fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fundus photography (FP). Fifty-six eyes of 28 patients with RVO disease were evaluated by MSI, FP, FFA, and spectral domain OCT. All images were analyzed by an experienced reading center grader. Nonperfusion area, occlusion area, and intraretinal edema from occlusions and FP abnormalities (presence of cotton-wool spots, epiretinal membrane, hard exudates, and retinal hemorrhage) were documented. The diagnostic power of MSI was evaluated by the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Of the 56 eyes, 15 had branch RVO (BRVO), 13 had central RVO (CRVO), and 28 were normal. The ROC curve analysis showed that MSI was a better discriminator of RVO than FP (AUC = 0.911 vs. 0.768, P = 0.0318). The sensitivity (and 95% confidence intervals) of MSI for nonperfusion area was 42.3% (18.8-70.4), 80.0% (51.4-94.7) for retinal hemorrhage, 90.0% (54.1-99.5) for cotton-wool spots, 90.9% (57.1-99.5) for hard exudates, and 21.1% (7.0-46.1) for intraretinal edema. MSI was capable of finding abnormalities such as nonperfusion area, retinal hemorrhage, cotton-wool spots, hard exudates, and epiretinal membrane. MSI oxy-deoxy maps showed low oxygen levels in the affected vein, especially in CRVOs, and could be used in detecting the nonperfusion area. MSI reveals highly defined vascular abnormalities in shortwave images and oxy-deoxy maps, which is compatible with FP, FFA, and OCT findings and indicates, preliminarily, the advantages of the noninvasiveness, simplicity, and effectiveness of MSI in evaluating RVO diseases. Lasers Surg. Med. 47:549-558, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

VITREAL LEVELS OF ERYTHROPOIETIN ARE INCREASED IN PATIENTS WITH RETINAL VEIN OCCLUSION AND CORRELATE WITH VITREAL VEGF AND THE EXTENT OF MACULAR EDEMA

This study compares vitreal levels of erythropoietin (EPO) in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) with control subjects. In addition, it investigates different RVO disease parameters (time of vein occlusion, patient age, vitreal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels, and extent of central macular edema) for possible correlations with vitreal EPO levels. Serum and vitreal EPO were measured from 6 patients with branch retinal vein occlusion, 6 patients with central retinal vein occlusion, and 12 control subjects (10 macular puckers and 2 macular holes). Serum EPO levels (9.8 ± 4.9 mU/mL) did not differ between the RVO and control groups and were significantly lower than vitreal EPO levels in all groups. Vitreal EPO was elevated both in branch RVO (91 ± 59 mU/mL) and central RVO (182 ± 70 mU/mL) compared with controls (35 ± 24 mU/mL). Increased vitreal EPO correlated with higher vitreal VEGF (r = 0.64, P = 0.0008) and more pronounced central macular edema (r = 0.66, P = 0.001). The results from this study indicate that EPO is locally expressed in the retina and that it is upregulated together with VEGF in RVO eyes. Because of its role both in neuroprotection and angiogenesis, ocular EPO might represent an interesting target to investigate in patients with RVO, especially in light of the current anti-VEGF treatments.

Retinal vein occlusion disease and platelet activation: Will antiplatelet therapy be a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with retinal vein occlusion disease in the future?

Retinal vein occlusion disease and platelet activation: Will antiplatelet therapy be a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with retinal vein occlusion disease in the future? -

Homocysteine: a risk factor for retinal venous occlusive disease 1,2

Purpose Recent studies have shown a relationship between elevated levels of homocysteine and vascular disease including cerebrovascular accidents and myocardial infarctions. We evaluated patients with a recent retinal vein occlusion to determine if there was an associated elevation of homocysteine. Design Age and gender matched case-controlled study. Participants Twenty patients with retinal venous occlusive disease within the previous 6-month period and 40 control patients without retinal venous occlusive disease were enrolled in the study. Methods Twenty patients with a history of retinal vein occlusion underwent laboratory testing to determine serum homocysteine levels. In addition, a health survey was completed and several laboratory tests relating to vascular disease including cholesterol were checked. Two control groups were selected. The first group included patients with diabetes and no history of retinal vascular occlusive disease. The second control group included nondiabetic patients who also had no prior history of retinal vascular occlusive disease. Main outcome measures The main parameter measured in this study is fasting homocysteine. Results Fifteen of 20 patients (75%) with retinal vein occlusion disease had an elevated fasting serum homocysteine level, whereas only 5 of 40 control patients (13%) had an abnormal homocysteine level ( P < 0.0005). Conclusions Patients with retinal venous occlusive disease have higher levels of homocysteine, which may serve as a modifiable risk factor.