Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Characteristics of Polypoidal Lesions in Caucasians

Daniel Ahmed-Balestra; Alexandra Graf; Martin Stattin; Anna-Maria Haas; Stefan Kickinger; Michael Jacob; Claus Zehetner; Katharina Krepler; Siamak Ansari-Shahrezaei

doi:10.1155/2023/9597673

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Characteristics of Polypoidal Lesions in Caucasians

J Ophthalmol. 2023 Jun 13:2023:9597673. doi: 10.1155/2023/9597673. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Daniel Ahmed-Balestra^{1

2}, Alexandra Graf³, Martin Stattin^{1

2

4}, Anna-Maria Haas^{1

2}, Stefan Kickinger^{1

2}, Michael Jacob^{1

2}, Claus Zehetner⁴, Katharina Krepler^{1

2}, Siamak Ansari-Shahrezaei^{1

2

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Karl Landsteiner Institute for Retinal Research and Imaging, Juchgasse 25, Vienna 1030, Austria.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Clinic Landstraße, Vienna Healthcare Group, Juchgasse 25, Vienna 1030, Austria.
³ Institute of Medical Statistics, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, Vienna 1090, Austria.
⁴ Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, Innsbruck 6020, Austria.
⁵ Medical School, Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Campus Prater Freudplatz 3, Vienna 1020, Austria.
⁶ Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 1, Graz 8036, Austria.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyze the swept source-optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) characteristics of polypoidal lesions in Caucasian patients.

Methods: In this retrospective observational case series, 43 polypoidal lesions in 32 eyes of 32 patients were diagnosed using indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and compared to SS-OCTA at a tertiary medical retina center (Clinic Landstraße, Vienna Healthcare Group, Austria) between June 2017 and March 2020. Vascularity was identified by color-coded B-scan SS-OCTA while morphology was described as revealed by en face SS-OCTA after alignment with ICGA-confirmed findings.

Results: In total, SS-OCTA detected all polypoidal lesions, as identified by ICGA. On B-scan SS-OCTA, circumscribed flow was detected in 33 (76.7%) polypoidal lesions and diffuse flow in 10 (23.3%) lesions. On en face SS-OCTA, polypoidal lesions appeared morphologically as 19 tangled vessel balls (44.2%), 6 tangled vessel balls next to dilated vessels (13.9%), 8 vascular dilatations (18.6%), and 8 ill-defined vascular networks (18.6%), leaving 2 lesions (4.6%) undetected. Circumscribed flow was significantly associated with tangled vessel balls (p = 0.005).

Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of a multimodal imaging approach, including SS-OCTA, for the evaluation of polypoidal lesions. Our findings suggest a morphological heterogeneity of vascular patterns in Caucasian patients with polypoidal lesions, as pictured by SS-OCTA.