Evaluation of the optic nerve head vessel density in patients with limited scleroderma

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) parameters of the optic nerve head and peripapillary retina and to assess macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness by using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in patients with limited scleroderma and to compare these results with those of healthy control subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 42 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of limited scleroderma and 32 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were included in the study. OCTA was performed for the radial peripapillary capillary plexus (RPCP) whole image, inside disc, and peripapillary vessel densities in all participants with XR Avanti AngioVue OCTA (Optovue, Fremont, California, USA). OCT images were obtained with Spectralis OCT with eye-tracking dual-beam technology (Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany), and peripapillary RNFL thickness was evaluated with circle program. The data from the right eyes of all participants were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the radial RPCP whole image, inside disc, and peripapillary vessel density values or the RNFL parameters of the scleroderma patients when compared with the controls (p > 0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Decreased peripapillary vessel density on OCTA, which can be an early sign of glaucoma, could not be observed in scleroderma patients in this study. However, further long-term studies are still needed to identify glaucoma tendency in patients with scleroderma before clinically detectable glaucoma.