QUANTIFICATION OF CHOROIDAL VASCULATURE BY HIGH-QUALITY STRUCTURE EN FACE SWEPT-SOURCE OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IMAGES IN EYES WITH CENTRAL SEROUS CHORIORETINOPATHY

Purpose: To determine the density of the choroidal vasculature by high-quality structure en face optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanned at the same time as OCT angiography in eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Methods: Thirty-five eyes of 30 patients with CSC (20 men and 10 women; average age, 48.4 years) were studied. Volume scans (12 x 12 mm-square) were obtained at the same time as OCT angiographic scans (Plex Elite 9000; Swept-Source OCT, Zeiss). High-quality structure en face images were flattened at Bruch membrane and binarized to identify and quantify the choroidal vascular density by the Bernsen method of the segmentation slab of one-half of the choroidal thickness. Similarly, high-quality structure en face choroidal images of 35 healthy eyes of 29 patients (18 men and 11 women; average age, 51.7 years) were binarized and analyzed as controls. The en face images were cropped to exclude the optic disk. Results: The mean cropped image size was 9.57 mm x 9.57 mm in the eyes with CSC and 9.48 mm x 9.48 mm in the healthy eyes (P = 0.41). In the eyes with CSC, the choroidal vascular density was 61.6 +/- 7.5% of the choroid, which was significantly greater than that in the healthy eyes at 49.4 +/- 7.5% (P < 0.01). Conclusion: High-quality structure en face OCT can be used to assess the density of the choroidal vessels quantitatively and noninvasively in eyes with CSC.