Normative Database of Peripapillary Vessel Density Measured by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography and Correlation Study

Abstract

Purpose: To provide a normative data set of swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) peripapillary vessel density (VD) measurements and assess correlations with age, gender, disc area and axial length (AL). Material and Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted on 346 right eyes of healthy subjects. Peripapillary SS-OCTA VD measurements were obtained in the retinal superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and choriocapillaris (CC) in all four quadrants using the Triton device (Topcon, Nagoya, Japan). AL measurements were made by optical biometry. Results: Mean participant age was 37.7 ± 19.8 years (range 5– 83), AL was 23.9 ± 1.3 mm (21–27), and 59% were women. Mean VDs for all quadrants were 57.2 ± 5.7% for SCP (52.4 ± 4.0% – 62.1 ± 4.2%), 46.3 ± 6.5% for DCP (41.9 ± 5.8% – 49.7 ± 4.8%) and 60.8 ± 7.4% for CC (53.4 ± 5.8% – 65.7 ± 5.5%). Negative correlation was detected between SCP VD and age (R = −0.264; P < .001), while correlation between DCP densities and age was positive (R = 0.202; P = .002). No associations were detected between peripapillary VD and gender (P ≥ 0.087) and negative correlation was found with AL and disc area only in the CC (P ≤ 0.004). In a subgroup analysis of 33 individuals, we noted no differences in VD between fellow eyes (P ≥ 0.139). Conclusion: Peripapillary VD showed wide individual variation when measured with the Triton SS-OCTA in the different retinal plexuses and CC. While correlations were observed with age, no relationships emerged with gender and only CC showed negative correlation with AL and disc area.