Foveal Avascular Zone Area Changes Analyzed Using OCT Angiography after Successful Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment Repair

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To investigate foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area after surgery in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) that involved or uninvolved the macula, and to evaluate the correlation between FAZ area and visual outcomes using swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Materials and Methods: This retrospective case–control study included 34 eyes (34 patients) with recent onset RRD that were successfully repaired with a single, uncomplicated surgical procedure (pars plana vitrectomy with gas tamponade). The changes of FAZ area were examined by OCTA after surgery. The unaffected fellow eye was used as a control for additional comparison.

Results: Both superficial and deep FAZ area were significantly larger in the macula-off group (superficial: 0.374 ± 0.112, deep: 0.702 ± 0.193 mm²) than in the macula-on group (superficial: 0.282 ± 0.105, deep: 0.543 ± 0.114 mm²) following surgery. The deep FAZ area was also markedly larger in the macula-off group than in the control group (0.532 ± 0.124 mm²). Correlation analyses revealed that both superficial (ρ = 0.555, P = 0.015) and deep FAZ (ρ = 0.616, P = 0.005) areas were negatively correlated with postoperative best-corrected visual acuity in the macula-off RRD group.

Conclusions: The FAZ area enlargement after successful surgical repair in macula-off RRD eyes may indicate that there is an ischemic damage to retinal capillary plexus in fovea.

KEYWORDS:

• Foveal avascular zone
• foveal ischemia
• optical coherence tomography angiography
• retinal capillary plexus
• rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.