Determination of Topographic Variations in Inner Retinal Blood Flow Areas in Young Chinese Subjects Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To investigate (i) topographic variations in, and (ii) establish references for, inner retinal blood flow areas of the macular region of young Chinese subjects by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography.

Methods: To measure inner retinal blood flow areas, we scanned an 8 × 8 mm² area and centered on the fovea of 336 eyes from 170 subjects using OCT angiography. Blood flow area measurements were made from a 1-mm radius circle, centered on the fovea, and 3 mm to the fovea superiorly, inferiorly, temporally, and nasally.

Results: Mean inner retinal blood flow areas in the parafoveal, superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal macular regions were 1.78 ± 0.28, 1.76 ± 0.30, 1.69 ± 0.31, 1.91 ± 0.31, and 1.71 ± 0.28 mm,² respectively. Nasal inner retinal blood flow areas were significantly larger than other macular regions (p < 0.001). Gender was significantly associated with inner retinal blood flow areas of all macular regions studied. A gender-based subgroup analysis showed that inner retinal blood flow areas in superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal macular regions were significantly larger in women than men (all p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Nasal blood flow areas were larger than parafoveal blood flow areas, which were larger than superior blood flow areas, which were larger than temporal blood flow areas, which were larger than inferior blood flow areas in the macular regions studied. Gender was significantly associated with inner retinal blood flow areas in all macular regions studied.

KEYWORDS:

• Blood flow area
• optical coherence tomography angiography
• topographic variation

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding

This study was supported by The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (81425006), Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Medical Key Program (1341195400), and The National Natural Science Foundation of China (81500714).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (81425006), Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Medical Key Program (1341195400), and The National Natural Science Foundation of China (81500714).