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En face optical coherence tomography angiography for corneal neovascularisation
  1. Marcus Ang1,2,
  2. Yijun Cai2,
  3. Shahab Shahipasand2,
  4. Dawn A Sim2,
  5. Pearse A Keane2,3,
  6. Chelvin C A Sng1,2,4,
  7. Catherine A Egan2,
  8. Adnan Tufail2,
  9. Mark R Wilkins2
  1. 1Singapore National Eye Center, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore
  2. 2Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  3. 3Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK
  4. 4Department of Ophthalmology, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
  1. Correspondence to Dr Marcus Ang, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore Eye Research Institute, 11 Third Hospital Avenue, Singapore 168751, Singapore; marcus.ang.h.n{at}snec.com.sg, marcusahn{at}yahoo.com.sg

Abstract

Background/aim Recently, there has been an increasing clinical need for objective evaluation of corneal neovascularisation, a condition which cause significant ocular morbidity. We describe the use of a rapid, non-invasive ‘en face’ optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) system for the assessment of corneal neovascularisation.

Methods Consecutive patients with abnormal corneal neovascularisation were scanned using a commercially available AngioVue OCTA system (Optovue, Fremont, California, USA) with the split-spectrum amplitude decorrelation angiography algorithm, using an anterior segment lens adapter. Each subject had four scans in each eye by a trained operator and two independent masked assessors analysed all images. Main outcome measures were scan quality (signal strength, image quality), area of neovascularisation and repeatability of corneal vascular grade.

Results We performed OCTA in 20 patients (11 men, 9 women, mean age 49.27±17.23 years) with abnormal corneal neovascularisation. The mean area of corneal neovascularisation was 0.57±0.30 mm2 with a mean neovascularisation grade of 3.5±0.2 in the OCTA scans. We found the OCTA to produce good quality images of the corneal vessels (signal strength: 36.95±13.97; image quality score 2.72±1.07) with good repeatability for assessing neovascularisation grade (κ=0.84).

Conclusions In this preliminary clinical study, we describe a method for acquiring angiography images with ‘en face’ views, using an OCTA system adapted for the evaluation of corneal neovascularisation. Further studies are required to compare the scans to other invasive angiography techniques for the quantitative evaluation of abnormal corneal vessels.

  • Cornea
  • Neovascularisation
  • Imaging

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