Evaluation of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Findings in Patients with Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion

To analyze the correlation of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings with visual acuity (VA) in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).

This cross-sectional study was performed on 20 eyes of 20 patients with unilateral BRVO involving the macula referred to the ophthalmology clinic of Rassoul Akram Hospital. OCTA imaging was conducted for all patients and the correlation of the obtained data including vascular density and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area with visual acuity was evaluated.

The patients included 11 men and 9 women with a mean age of 63.9±8.47 (Aged 49-77 years). Branch retinal vein occlusion involved the superotemporal and inferotemporal quadrants in 11 and 9 eyes, respectively. The mean best-corrected visual acuity was 0.86±0.88 logMAR. The vascular density of deep capillary plexus did not differ in the parafoveal involved and uninvolved areas (P= 0.087). No significant difference was observed in the vascular density of superficial capillary plexus between the involved and uninvolved areas (P= 0.715). The difference in vascular density between involved quadrants was not statistically significant. The vascular density of deep and superficial capillary plexuses in the involved area did not correlate with age, sex, visual acuity, macular thickness, FAZ, number of previous injections, distance to the last injection, and duration of disease.

In this study, no statistically significant association was found between visual acuity and OCTA findings, including vascular density and foveal avascular zone area.