Reduced Retinal Microvascular Perfusion in Patients With Stroke Detected by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Baoyi Liu; Yijun Hu; Guixian Ma; Yu Xiao; Bin Zhang; Yingying Liang; Pingting Zhong; Xiaomin Zeng; Zhanjie Lin; Huiqian Kong; Guanrong Wu; Zijing Du; Ying Fang; Manqing Huang; Lijuan Wang; Xiaohong Yang; Honghua Yu

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.628336

Reduced Retinal Microvascular Perfusion in Patients With Stroke Detected by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Apr 13:13:628336. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.628336. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Baoyi Liu^{1

2}, Yijun Hu^{1

2

3

4}, Guixian Ma⁵, Yu Xiao^{1

2}, Bin Zhang⁵, Yingying Liang^{1

2}, Pingting Zhong^{1

2}, Xiaomin Zeng^{1

2}, Zhanjie Lin^{1

2}, Huiqian Kong^{1

2}, Guanrong Wu^{1

2}, Zijing Du^{1

2}, Ying Fang^{1

2}, Manqing Huang^{1

2}, Lijuan Wang⁵, Xiaohong Yang^{1

2}, Honghua Yu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Guangdong Eye Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
² The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Refractive Surgery Center, Aier Institute of Refractive Surgery, Guangzhou Aier Eye Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Aier School of Ophthalmology, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Guangdong Neuroscience Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Currently there is a shortage of biomarkers for stroke, one of the leading causes of death and disability in aging populations. Retinal vessels offer a unique and accessible "window" to study the microvasculature in vivo. However, the relationship between the retinal microvasculature and stroke is not entirely clear. To investigate the retinal microvascular characteristics in stroke, we recruited patients with stroke and age-matched control subjects from a tertiary hospital in China. The macular vessel density (VD) in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP), foveal avascular zone (FAZ) metrics, and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) measured optic disc VD were recorded for analysis. A total of 189 patients with stroke and 195 control subjects were included. After adjusting for sex, visual acuity, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, a history of smoking, levels of hemoglobulin (HbA1c), cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the macular VD of SCP and DCP in all sectors was decreased in patients with stroke. In the stroke group, the VD around the FAZ and the VD of the optic disk were lower. Logistic regression found the parafovea-superior-hemi VD of DCP > 54.53% [odds ratio (OR): 0.169] as a protective factor of stroke. Using the integration of all OCTA parameters and traditional risk factors, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve of distinguishing patients with stroke was 0.962, with a sensitivity of 0.944 and a specificity of 0.871. Our study demonstrates that the retinal VD is decreased in patients with stroke independently of the traditional risk factors of stroke, which may shed light on the monitoring of stroke using the retinal microvascular parameters.

Keywords: optical coherence tomography angiography; retianal vascular; retina; retinal vessel analysis; stroke.