Emerging Applications of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) in neurological research

PURPOSE: To review the clinical and research value of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in the field of neurology. METHODS: Current literature involving OCTA were reviewed through PubMed using the search terms “optical coherence tomography angiography”, with “multiple sclerosis”, “Alzheimer’s disease”, “optic neuropathy”, or other closely-related terms. RESULTS: OCTA has been applied in research to advance our understanding of the pathobiology of neurological disorders. OCTA-derived blood flow and vessel density measures are altered in multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and various optic neuropathies (ON) in varying regions of the posterior segment vasculature of the eye. These emerging research findings support the occurrence of retinal vascular alterations across a host of neurological disorders and raise the possibility that vasculopathy can be clinically relevant since it contributes to the pathobiology of several neurological disorders. CONCLUSION: OCTA may be beneficial for neurological research. Additional investigations using OCTA in neurological disorders will help to further validate its clinical and research utilities in terms of characterizing the role of vasculopathy in neurological disorders.