The study was done to compare anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography (AS-OCTA) systems in delineating normal iris vessels and iris NVI in eyes with pigmented irides.
Prospective study of 10 consecutive patients with normal pigmented iris, had AS-OCTA scans with a described illumination technique, before using the same protocol in five eyes with NVI.
The median age of subjects was 28 years, and 50% were female. The paired mean difference of iris vessel density measurements was 11.7 (95% CI 14.7 to 8.1; p=0.002), SS-OCTA detecting more vessels than SD-OCTA. The inter-rater reliability for artefact score (κ=0.799, p<0.001) and visibility score (κ=0.722; p<0.001) were substantial. Both AS-OCTA systems were able to detect NVI vessels with a fair agreement (κ=0.588), with clearer NVI characteristics in stage 1/2 compared to stage 3 NVI.
The study concluded that SS-OCTA was better able to delineate iris vessels in normal pigmented irides compared to SD-OCTA. Both AS-OCTA systems identified NVI characteristics based on its atypical configuration or location, but further improvements are needed to allow for more accurate objective, serial quantification for clinical use.
Reference: https://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2020/08/18/bjophthalmol-2020-316930
