Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) is a recent, dyeless, and noninvasive imaging technique for evaluating depth-resolved vascular status by capturing the dynamic motion of the erythrocytes. It provides the flow map of major vessels and capillary plexuses separately in different layers using both spectral domain and swept-source OCT techniques. The aim of this study was the quantitative evaluation of vascular density (VD) of the optic nerve head (ONH) and perfusion of the optic disc, as normative data, in healthy human subjects and their relation to age and sex, using OCT-A in healthy human subjects. A total of 79 eyes of patients with a mean age of 37.03 ± 11.27 were examined. Both eyes of each volunteer were scanned by an RTVue XR Avanti; Optovue with OCT-A using the split-spectrum amplitude-decorrelation angiography algorithm technique. Masked graders evaluated enface angio-disc OCT-A data. The flow area of the ONH and the VD were automatically calculated. The total ONH (papillary and peripapillary) area VD was 56.03% ± 4.55%. The flow area of the ONH was 1.74 ± 0.10 mm2 / 1.34mm2. The temporal and infratemporal peripapillary VD was different between male and female patients. Increasing age causes some changes in the flow area of the ONH and the papillary VD from the third to the fourth decade (analysis of variance test; P<0.05). A normal quantitative database of the flow area and VD of the papillary and peripapillary area, obtained by RTVue XR-Optovue OCT-A technique, is illustrated in this study for healthy people from the second to the seventh decades of life, which can be used to ascertain perfusion compromise in some optic nerve pathologies. Age did not impact vessel density and flow area of the ONH and peripapillary area after the third decade. The recognition of vascular pattern and quantification of the capillaries on and around the optic nerve head (ONH) area including the papillary and peripapillary area in large healthy samples may help in understanding the pathophysiological basis of some diseases such as glaucoma, optic neuritis, and / or other retinal diseases.
Nerve head in healthy humans using OCT-angiography
Reviewed by Chrysostomos D Dimitriou
The quantitative measurements of vascular density and flow area of the optic nerve head using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
CONTRIBUTOR
Chrysostomos D Dimitriou
Essex County Hospital, Colchester, Essex, UK.
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