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Choroidal vascularity index in hereditary optic neuropathies

Eye volume 37, pages 2679–2684 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Purpose

To assess the choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in patients affected by Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) compared to patients affected by dominant optic atrophy (DOA) and healthy subjects.

Methods

In this retrospective study, we considered three cohorts: LHON eyes (48), DOA eyes (48) and healthy subjects’ eyes (48). All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination, including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) acquisition. OCT parameters as subfoveal choroidal thickness (Sub-F ChT), mean choroidal thickness (ChT), total choroidal area (TCA), luminal choroidal area (LCA) were calculated. CVI was obtained as the ratio of LCA and TCA.

Results

Subfoveal ChT in LHON patients did not show statistically significant differences compared to controls, while in DOA a reduction in choroidal thickness was observed (p = 0.344 and p = 0.045, respectively). Mean ChT was reduced in both LHON and DOA subjects, although this difference reached statistical significance only in DOA (p = 0.365 and p = 0.044, respectively). TCA showed no significant differences among the 3 cohorts (p = 0.832). No changes were detected in LCA among the cohorts (p = 0.389), as well as in the stromal choroidal area (SCA, p = 0.279). The CVI showed no differences among groups (p = 0.898): LHON group was characterized by a similar CVI in comparison to controls (p = 0.911) and DOA group (p = 0.818); the DOA group was characterized by a similar CVI in comparison to controls (p = 1.0).

Conclusion

CVI is preserved in DOA and LHON patients, suggesting that even in the chronic phase of the neuropathy the choroidal structure is not irreversibly compromised.

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Fig. 1: Retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell layer thickness diagrams and optic nerve head appearance comparison.
Fig. 2: Choroidal vascularity index (CVI) calculation procedure.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

VC reports consultant and Advisory Board activities with GenSight Biologics, Pretzel Therapeutics, Stealth Biotherapeutics and Chiesi Farmaceutici; honoraria from Chiesi Farmaceutici, First Class and Medscape. None of these activities are related to conduction of this study and the writing of the manuscript. FB is Consultant for Allergan, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Fidia Sooft, Hofmann La Roche, Novartis, NTC Pharma, Sifi, Thrombogenics, Zeiss. None of these activities are related to conduction of this study and the writing of the manuscript. PB reports consultancies for GenSight Biologics and received speaker honoraria from Santhera Pharmaceuticals, Chiesi Farmaceutici, Omikron Italia; he is SI for clinical trials sponsored by GenSight Biologics and Santhera. None of these activities are related to conduction of this study and the writing of the manuscript. All other authors declare no financial disclosures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Milan, Milan, Italy

    Marco Battista, Maria Lucia Cascavilla, Enrico Borrelli, Costanza Barresi, Giorgio Lari, Chiara Viganò, Alessandro Berni, Francesco Bandello & Piero Barboni

  2. IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

    Marco Battista, Maria Lucia Cascavilla, Enrico Borrelli, Costanza Barresi, Giorgio Lari, Chiara Viganò, Alessandro Berni, Francesco Bandello & Piero Barboni

  3. IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Leonardo Caporali & Valerio Carelli

  4. Unit of Neurology, Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences (DIBINEM), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Valerio Carelli

  5. Studio Oculistico d’Azeglio, Bologna, Italy

    Piero Barboni

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Contributions

MB, MLC, and PB were responsible for the ideation, design and conduction of the study. CB, GL, CV, and AB acquired the data and the measurements for the analysis. EB performed the statistical analysis. LC and VC counselled for the genetic. MB, EB, and PB critically reviewed the results obtained. MB, EB, and PB contributed to the writing of the paper. MLC and VC performed the last revision of the paper.

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Correspondence to Piero Barboni.

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Battista, M., Cascavilla, M.L., Borrelli, E. et al. Choroidal vascularity index in hereditary optic neuropathies. Eye 37, 2679–2684 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02383-5

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