Is optical coherence tomography angiography a useful tool in the screening of hydroxychloroquine retinopathy?

PURPOSE: To detect the early changes in retinal vasculature via optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) by comparing the quantitative OCTA parameters in the group of patients who were using hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) or not. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, comparative, and observational study. The patients who were newly or previously prescribed HCQ for an autoimmune disease were included. OCTA imaging was performed via OCT RT XR Avanti with AngioVue software (Optivue Inc, Freemont, CA). The study group had two groups: a control group (patients newly diagnosed and who were not taking any medication) and a treatment group (patients who were receiving HCQ treatment). The main outcome measure was OCTA parameters. RESULTS: A total of 102 eyes of 102 patients were included. There were 70 patients in the treatment group and 32 patients in the control group. All of the vascular density values were similar between the control and treatment groups (p > 0.05 for all). However, the superficial whole thickness, superficial parafoveal thickness, superficial perifoveal thickness, deep whole thickness, deep parafoveal thickness, and deep perifoveal thickness were thinner in the treatment group than the control group (p < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Vascular density parameters did not differ between the control and treatment groups. However, the retinal thickness values were lower in the treatment group.