Developing quantitative analysis program of blood flow velocity according to vessel diameter for neovascular age-related macular degeneration using OCTA-VISTA

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a quantitative analysis program of blood flow velocity by vessel diameter in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) subjects using high-speed swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography. This retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study included 10 eyes of healthy volunteers and 4 eyes of patients with representative nAMD. Novel scan patterns and variable interscan time analysis were utilized to measure the flow parameter, a surrogate marker of blood flow velocity, by vessel diameter within different depths. Detected vessels at superficial and deep as well as outer retinal regions were categorized into three vessel diameters (major vessels (> 40 μm), medium vessels (20–40 μm), and capillaries (< 20 μm)). The flow parameter increased with enlarged vessel diameter in all participants at superficial and deep layer. All nAMD subjects, except for type 3 macular neovascularization (MNV), contained a structure dominated by medium vessels at outer retinal region. The mean flow parameter at outer retinal region was type 1 MNV (1.46 ms−1), type 1 + 2 MNV (0.98 ms−1), and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, including branching vascular networks (1.46 ms−1). This program provides the possibility to extract the blood flow information at different depths by vessel diameter types, which is considered to be useful tool for evaluating nAMD pathology and activity.