An Evaluation of Vascular Density Changes by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Patients with Ocular Hypertension

Abstract Purpose To evaluate Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) findings in patients with Ocular Hypertension (OHT) and compare them with healthy individuals. Material and Methods Thirty-four patients with ocular hypertension (OHT) and 22 healthy individuals were included in the study. Foveal thickness, retinal vascular density in superficial and deep capillary plexus and choriocapillaris, foveal avascular zone (FAZ), acircularity index (AI), foveal vessel density (FD), non-flow area, capillary and all vessel densities in the peripapillary area and the disc were automatically measured using the Angiovue software of OCT-A and compared between groups. Results The comparison of the macular OCT-A findings did not reveal a significant difference between the two groups in terms of central macular thickness, superficial and deep capillary plexus vessel density (p > 0.05). The foveal avascular zone width was significantly higher in OHT patients compared to the control group (0.30 ± 0.08µ and 0.25 ± 0.11 µ, respectively; p = 0.04). The comparison of optic nerve OCT-A findings revealed that the whole-field vessel density (wVD) (p = 0.007), peripapillary vessel density (pVD) (p = 0.001), inferior, superior and temporal radial peripapillary capillary plexus vessel density (p = 0.006, p = 0.008, p = 0.02) and the mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (p = 0.02) were significantly lower in the OHT group. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the decrement in the optic disc vascular density and foveal avascular zone width was significantly higher in OHT patients. The possible effect or role of these microvascular changes in terms of glaucoma development should be examined through further studies.