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Serial optical coherence tomography angiography for corneal vascularization

  • Cornea
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Recently, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) has been used to successfully delineate vessels within the retina. This current study aims to assess corneal vascularization secondary to herpetic keratitis pre- and post-treatment using serial OCTA imaging adapted for the anterior segment.

Methods

All eyes were scanned using the split-spectrum amplitude decorrelation angiography (SSADA) algorithm on the AngioVue OCTA system (Optovue Inc. Fremont, CA, USA) with an anterior segment lens adapter. Multiple scans in the regions of interest (ROI) before and after treatment were analysed to assess change in corneal vascularization in response to each treatment modality.

Results

We analyzed a total of 12 OCTA scans in three eyes with corneal vascularization, comparing images pre- and 3 months post-treatment. We found that the OCTA was able to detect a significant decrease in area of vascularization in all eyes: including fine-needle diathermy (48 ± 7 to 41 ± 5 %, P = 0.048), subconjunctival bevacizumab (45 ± 7 to 38 ± 5 %, P = 0.015) and systemic steroid treatment following graft rejection (38 ± 1 to 32 ± 2 %, P = 0.003).

Conclusions

Our preliminary study of serial OCTA scans suggests that this may be a useful tool for objective quantification of corneal vascularization. Future development of image processing software will be needed for clinical use or trials to evaluate anti-vascular therapies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Yijun Cai, Mark R. Wilkins & Marcus Ang

  2. Cornea, Cataract and Refractive Surgery Unit, Vissum Corporación, Alicante, Spain

    Jorge L. Alio del Barrio

  3. Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Center, 11 Third Hospital Avenue, Singapore, 168751, Singapore

    Marcus Ang

Authors
  1. Yijun Cai
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  2. Jorge L. Alio del Barrio
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  3. Mark R. Wilkins
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  4. Marcus Ang
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Correspondence to Marcus Ang.

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Funding

Singhealth Research Foundation (R1275/81/2015)

Conflict of interest

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cite this article

Cai, Y., Alio del Barrio, J.L., Wilkins, M.R. et al. Serial optical coherence tomography angiography for corneal vascularization. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 255, 135–139 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-016-3505-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-016-3505-9

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