OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY IN PATIENTS WITH BEHÇET UVEITIS.

Purpose: To describe optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in eyes with Behçet uveitis (BU) and to compare these findings with those of fluorescein angiography (FA).

Methods: Prospective, comparative, cross-sectional study. Patients presenting with clinically active BU involving the posterior segment were evaluated using FA, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and OCTA. Optical coherence tomography angiograms were reviewed and analyzed. Foveal avascular zone areas and vessel densities were also reported.

Results: Twenty-five patients (44 eyes) were included. Perifoveal microvascular changes were more frequently observed on OCTA than on FA (95.5 vs 59.1%; P < 0.001). Disruption of the perifoveal capillary arcade, areas of retinal capillary nonperfusion/hypoperfusion, and perifoveal capillary abnormalities, including rarefied, dilated, or shunting vessels were observed more frequently using OCTA than FA (40.9 vs 25%; P = 0.039, 86.4 vs 34.1%; P < 0.001, and 84.1 vs 36.4%; P < 0.001, respectively). Areas of retinal capillary nonperfusion/hypoperfusion were more frequently observed in the deep than in the superficial capillary plexus (81.8 vs 63.6%; P = 0.039). Capillary abnormalities and disorganization of the normal architecture of the capillary network were more frequent in the deep than in the superficial capillary plexus (P < 0.001). Foveal avascular zone area was not significantly larger in eyes with BU than in control group in both the superficial and the deep capillary plexuses (0.4 vs 0.34 mm; P = 0.23 and 0.72 vs 0.53 mm; P = 0.053, respectively). Capillary vessel density was significantly lower in eyes with BU than in control group in the deep capillary plexus (13.7 vs 17.2 mm 21; P = 0.004).

Conclusion: OCTA allows better visualization and characterization of perifoveal microvascular changes than FA in eyes with active BU. The deep capillary plexus seemed to be more severely involved than the superficial capillary plexus.