Radial Peripapillary Capillary Network in Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa: An Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Study

PURPOSE: To investigate radial peripapillary capillary (RPC) network in patients affected by retinitis pigmentosa (RP). METHODS: Eleven patients (22 eyes) with previous diagnosis of RP and 16 age-matched healthy subjects (16 eyes) were enrolled. The diagnosis of RP was made based on both clinical features and electrophysiological examination. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination, including optical coherence tomography angiography and visual field (VF). The primary outcomes were the RPC vessel density in the peripapillary and disk areas; the secondary outcomes were the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and the mean defect at VF. RESULTS: A total of 19 eyes of 11 RP patients (5 males, 6 females) and 16 eyes of 16 healthy subjects (10 males, 6 females) were included for the analysis. RPC vessel density in the disk area was 46.5 ± 7.1% in the RP group and 45.4 ± 10.6% in the control group (p = 0.754). RPC vessel density in the peripapillary area was significantly reduced in the RP group after the comparison with the control group (52.5 ± 5.0 and 57.2 ± 5.1%, respectively, p = 0.011). RNFL thickness was 85.9 ± 20.4 μm in the RP group and 104.0 ± 6.4 μm in the control group (p = 0.002). RPC vessel density was significantly correlated with RNFL thickness values in RP patients, both in the disk and in the peripapillary area (Rho = 0.599 and p = 0.007 in the disk area, Rho = 0.665 and p = 0.002 in the peripapillary area, respectively). CONCLUSION: We showed that density of RPC is reduced in these patients in the peripapillary area. Moreover, the RPC vessel density correlates with the RNFL thickness.