Evaluation of the Changes in Vessel Density and Retinal Thickness in Patients Who Underwent Unilateral Congenital Cataract Extraction by OCTA

Weiwei Zhang; Huan Hu; Haixia Cheng; Qinghuai Liu; Dongqing Yuan

doi:10.2147/OPTH.S286372

Evaluation of the Changes in Vessel Density and Retinal Thickness in Patients Who Underwent Unilateral Congenital Cataract Extraction by OCTA

Clin Ophthalmol. 2020 Dec 2:14:4221-4228. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S286372. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Weiwei Zhang^#¹, Huan Hu^#², Haixia Cheng^#³, Qinghuai Liu¹, Dongqing Yuan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Xishui People's Hospital Affiliated to Hubei University of Science and Technology, Huanggang, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the changes in vessel density in patients with unilateral congenital cataract after cataract extraction.

Materials and methods: Children with unilateral congenital cataract were enrolled in our study. All of the patients underwent congenital cataract extraction and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation successfully. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was performed to image the retinal vasculature in the macular and optic disc areas before and after surgery. The differences in vessel density and retinal thickness between groups were compared.

Results: We found that the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was significantly improved one month after surgery compared with that before surgery (t=5.179, p<0.001). The axial length was also changed one month after surgery (t=5.350, p<0.001). The vessel density in the macular and optic disc areas of the affected eyes was significantly lower than that in the normal eyes, while the vessel density at the posterior pole was significantly improved one month after cataract extraction.

Conclusion: The decrease in vessel density in the macular and optic disc areas might be a consequence of the congenital cataract. Cataract extraction can relieve the form deprivation of the affected eye and increase the vessel density at the posterior pole of the affected eye significantly.

Keywords: OCTA; cataract extraction; form deprivation; unilateral congenital cataract; vessel density.

Grants and funding

This research project was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20191497). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.