Macular vessel density in patients recovered from COVID 19

•COVID-19, lead to vasculopathy and retinal vascular pathologies.•The ability of OCTA to provide vascular mapping of separate layers is an important advantage.•Very limited report is available about superficial and deep capillary plexus in patients with COVID 19 disease.•Vascular densities of both s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Photodiagnosis and photodynamic therapy 2021-06, Vol.34, p.102267-102267, Article 102267
Main Authors: Hazar, Leyla, Karahan, Mine, Vural, Esra, Ava, Sedat, Erdem, Seyfettin, Dursun, Mehmet Emin, Keklikçi, Uğur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
Eye
Fluorescein Angiography
Humans
Optical coherence tomography angiography
Pandemic
Photochemotherapy - methods
Photosensitizing Agents
Retinal vessels
Retinal Vessels - diagnostic imaging
SARS-CoV-2
Tomography, Optical Coherence
Vascular density
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Summary:•COVID-19, lead to vasculopathy and retinal vascular pathologies.•The ability of OCTA to provide vascular mapping of separate layers is an important advantage.•Very limited report is available about superficial and deep capillary plexus in patients with COVID 19 disease.•Vascular densities of both superficial and deep capillary network are affected in COVID 19 disease.•Foveal avascular zone is not affected in patients who have recovered from mild to moderate COVID-19 disease. The purpose is to evaluate macular vascular densities (VDs) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in patients effected by coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). The superficial (SF) and deep macular VD of 50 patients with SARS CoV2 pneumonia who had positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and who recovered after receiving treatment and 55 healthy age- and gender-matched controls were compared using OCTA. Blood inflammation parameters were also recorded. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of age and gender (p = 0.147 and p = 0.504, respectively). Nor was there a difference with respect to smokers between the two groups (p = 0.231). In COVID-19 patients, the VDs in superior hemi quadrant, superior quadrant and inferior quadrant, were significantly lower (p = 0.033, p = 0.029 and p = 0.042, respectively) in superficial plexus. It was also significantly lower in parafovea, superior hemi and superior quadrants (p = 0.026, p < 0.001 and p = 0.004, respectively) in deep plexus. In addition, white blood cell and neutrophil counts were significantly negatively correlated with the VD of the deep parafovea, deep superior quadrant and deep superior hemi quadrant (p < 0.05). There was no difference between the patient and control groups in both superficial and deep foveal avascular zone (FAZ) (p = 0.101 and p = 0.691 respectively). In COVID-19 disease, VD is low in some sectors in both SF and deep layers, but no change in FAZ. The effect of COVID 19 disease on the retina and whether it makes the retina sensitive to damage can only be understood with long-term follow-up.
ISSN:1572-1000
1873-1597
DOI:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2021.102267