Evaluation of the Optic Nerve Head Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Systemic Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

\n Introduction This study aims to quantify retinal microvascular vessel density using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SS), whether there is a difference in values \u200b\u200bwith the controls and to correlate it with the disease activity, damage risk and drug usage. Material- method SSc patients were enrolled, and age- and gender-matched controls underwent OCTA, after basic ophthalmological and rheumatological examinations in this cross-sectional, prospective study. Results 61 eyes of 61 consecutive SSc patients with a median age 52 years were investigeted. There was no statistically significant difference between patients and control groups regarding RNFL and OCTA measurements. As the ANA titer increases (RNFLs (p=0.01, r=-0.327), RPCwhole (p= 0.029, r= 0.279), RPCperipapiller (p=0.037, r=-0.267), RPC superior (p= 0.003, r=-0.371), RPCinferior (p=0.02, r=0.297)); there was a statistically significant decrease. RPC inside values were found to be lower in Anti Scl 70 positive patients compared to negative ones (p=0.021). RNFLn (p = 0.03), r =-0.278) value decreased as the years of disease increased. RPCinside value was found to be higher in patients using hydroxychloroquine and calcium channel blocker than those who did not use hydroxychloroquine respectively (p=0.021, p=0.027). RPC whole, RPC peripapillary, RPCnasal values were found to be statistically significantly higher in corticosteroid users than those who did not, respectivly (p = 0.043; 0.030; 0.033) Conclusion OCTA is a safe, fast non-invasive examination and can be used to investigate subclinical eye involvement in rheumatologic diseases using single scan.