Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) of retinal vasculature in patients with post fever retinitis: a qualitative and quantitative analysis

• Published in: Scientific reports 2021-09, Vol.11 (1), p.17647-17647, Article 17647
• Main Authors: Sanjay, Srinivasan, Gadde, Santosh Gopi Krishna, Agrawal, Sameeksha, Mahendradas, Padmamalini, Govindaswamy, Nivedhitha, Kawali, Ankush, Jayadev, Chaitra, Sangai, Sajjan, Roy, Abhijit Sinha, Shetty, Rohit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/166/985; 692/699/249; 692/699/255; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Angiography; Cross-Sectional Studies; Edema; Female; Fever; Fever - complications; Fever - diagnostic imaging; Fluorescein; Fluorescein Angiography - methods; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Ischemia; Male; Medical imaging; Microvasculature; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Prospective Studies; Quantitative analysis; Retina; Retinal Vessels - diagnostic imaging; Retinitis; Retinitis - diagnostic imaging; Retinitis - etiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tomography; Tomography, Optical Coherence - methods; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-96715-8

Post fever retinitis is a heterogenous entity that is seen 2–4 weeks after a systemic febrile illness in an immunocompetent individual. It may occur following bacterial, viruses, or protozoal infection. Optical coherence angiography (OCTA) is a newer non-invasive modality that is an alternative to fundus fluorescein angiography to image the retinal microvasculature. We hereby describe the vascular changes during the acute phase of post fever retinitis on OCTA. Imaging on OCTA was done for all patients with post fever retinitis at presentation with 3 × 3 mm and 8 × 8 mm scans centred on the macula and corresponding enface optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans obtained. A qualitative and quantitative analysis was done for all images. 46 eyes of 33 patients were included in the study. Salient features noted were changes in the superficial (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) with capillary rarefaction and irregularity of larger vessels in the SCP. The DCP had more capillary rarefaction when compared to the SCP. The foveal avascular zone (FAZ) was altered with an irregular perifoveal network. Our series of post fever retinitis describes the salient vascular features on OCTA. Although the presumed aetiology was different in all our patients, they developed similar changes on OCTA. While OCTA is not useful if there is gross macular oedema, the altered FAZ can be indicative of macular ischemia.