Abstract
Background
systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease with ocular affection. This study is for the evaluation of the retinal microvascular changes in systemic sclerosis patients by using the OCTA.
Methods
This prospective observational case-control study comprised twenty eyes of twenty systemic sclerosis patients as group I and another twenty eyes of twenty normal subjects as group II. All study members were examined with optical coherence tomography angiography in addition to a full ophthalmic examination.
Results
Both groups had more females gender than males without significant differences between them. Also, the mean age difference was statistically insignificant, with nearly the same range, which was 30 to 59 years in group I and 32 to 58 years in group II. Analysis of OCTA parameters revealed significantly lower differences in group I in the superficial vessel density at parafoveal, temporal, superior, and nasal regions. Lower values were recorded in group I at all zones of the deep layer except at the foveal zone. Vessel density measurements of the choriocapillaris revealed no statistically significant differences between groups in all zones.
Conclusions
The OCTA has demonstrated impairment of retinal microperfusion, confirming the presence of vascular damage. The duration of the disease had correlated with the DCP-VD and choriocapillaris VD. So, once systemic sclerosis has been diagnosed, microvascular retinal and choroidal evaluations should be considered to identify any sub-clinical alterations using OCTA.