The impact of structural optical coherence tomography changes on visual function in retinal vein occlusion

Purpose We aimed to determine the correlation between optical coherence tomography (OCT)- and demographic features and baseline best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in treatment-naive patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Methods This was a cross-sectional posthoc analysis of OCT images that included RVO patients from two prospective, open-label, multicentre studies. The morphological grading was done manually, in the standardized setting of a reading centre. Main outcome measure was the estimated difference in Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters associated with each individual biomarker. Results Included were 381/301 treatment-naive patients with BRVO/CRVO. For BRVO, statistically significant correlations with BCVA were seen for a 100 mu m increase in central subfield thickness (CST; -3.1 letters), intraretinal cysts at centre point (CP; +4.1), subretinal fluid (SRF) at CP (+3.0) and hyperreflective foci (HRF) at the central B-scan (-2.2). In CRVO, a 100 mu m increase in CST was associated with a loss of -3.4 letters. In the total cohort, 100 mu m increase in CST, SRF at CP and HRF at the central B-scan correlated with a difference of -3.2,+3.2 and -2.0 letters. A 10-year increase in age and female gender yielded a -2.0 and -2.5 letter decrease in the total cohort. Adjusted multipleR(2)for the respective group was 18.3%/26.3%/23.5%. Conclusions Of all parameters studied, only CST and age were consistently associated with worse BCVA in treatment-naive RVO patients. Morphology on OCT explained only a modest part of functional loss in this patient cohort.

Automated summary

The study aimed to determine the correlation between OCT and demographic features with baseline BCVA in treatment-naive RVO patients. Only CST and age were consistently associated with worse BCVA, and OCT morphology explained only a modest part of functional loss in this patient cohort.