Peripapillary vessel density in eyes with cone-rod dystrophy.

PURPOSE: To compared the vessel density (VD) around the optic nerve head (ONH) in eyes with cone-rod dystrophy (CORD) and healthy control eyes in a sector-wise manner and to investigate the relationship between VD around the ONH and visual function in CORD eyes. METHODS: Twenty-six eyes in 14 CORD patients and 25 eyes in 25 healthy control subjects were examined. Using OCT angiography images, the VDs in the superficial and deep capillary plexus at the macula (sVDm and dVDm) and those around the ONH in the superior, temporal, inferior and nasal region (VDnh_s, VDnh_t, VDnh_i, and VDnh_n, respectively) were measured for each eye. Patient age, visual acuity (VA) and VDs were then compared between two groups. Moreover, the relationships between VA and the VDs were analyzed using a linear mixed model and AICc model selection. RESULTS: No significant difference in age was seen between the CORD and control groups (p = 0.87, Wilcoxon rank sum test), but the VA was significantly lower in the CORD group (p<0.0001). Both sVDm and dVDm were significantly lower in the CORD eyes than in the control eyes (both p<0.0001). Among VDnh_s, VDnh_t, VDnh_i, and VDnh_n, however, only VDnh_t differed significantly between the CORD and control groups (p = 0.035). Among age, VDnh_t, dVDm, and sVDm, the optimal model for VA included only VDnh_t and dVDm. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the VD in the deep capillary plexus at the macula, the measurement of temporal VD around the ONH might be useful for predicting visual function in eyes with CORD.

Measurement of the Macular Hole Diameter by En Face Slab Optical Coherence Tomography Reflectance Imaging.

Purpose: To evaluate the repeatability of macular hole (MH) diameter measurement on en face slab optical coherence tomography (OCT) reflectance images and assess its potential to predict visual acuity (VA). Methods: We enrolled 27 eyes with full-thickness MHs in this study. Preoperative en face slab OCT reflectance images were obtained. Image binarization, ellipse approximation, and uncorrected measurement of minimum diameter, min(ef_uc), and maximum diameter, max(ef_uc), were performed using ImageJ. In addition, magnification-corrected diameters were calculated as min(ef) and max(ef) using the Littman and modified Bennett formulas. Spectral-domain OCT horizontal images were used as the conventional method for the analysis: min(conv) and max(conv). The inter-rater reliability of the method was evaluated by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The following relationships were analyzed: (1) between logMAR VA and min(ef_uc), min(ef), and min(conv); and (2) between logMAR VA and max(ef_uc), max(ef), and max(conv). Results: The min(ef) and max(ef) values were 439.4 ± 240.5 µm and 720.7 ± 346.1 µm, respectively. The ICC values were 0.985 and 0.999 for min(ef) and max(ef), and 0.885 and 0.909 for min(conv) and max(conv), respectively. Multivariate analysis suggested that min(ef), but not min(ef_uc) or min(conv), was associated with pre- and postoperative logMAR VA. Furthermore, max(ef), but not max(ef_uc) or max(conv), was also closely correlated with pre- and postoperative logMAR VA. Conclusions: The MH diameter measured by our method is highly reproducible and closely associated with VA compared to that measured by the conventional method. Translational Relevance: The MH diameter measured by this modality might serve as an accurate biomarker to predict visual function in eyes with MH.