Application of optical coherence tomography angiography in retinal vein occlusion

Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is a common retinal vascular disease that causes painless visual impairment in clinical practice.Currently, fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA) is the gold standard for its diagnosis.However, FFA is an invasive examination, which has poor reproducibility and lacks the ability to distinguish and depict deep capillaries.Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) has the characteristics of the non-invasive, safe, simple, efficient, and high axial resolution, making it a powerful tool for the diagnosis and efficacy evaluation of RVO.OCTA not only rapidly analyzes microvascular images of RVO patients, but also evaluates the morphologic structure and perfusion status of capillaries qualitatively and quantitatively in each layer in the macular and optic disc area of both eyes.The article comprehensively reviewed the application of OCTA in RVO patients, including the detection of changes in retinal structure and blood flow in the macula and optic disc area of the affected eye and healthy contralateral eye, the evaluation of visual prognosis and the effect of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, the investigation of the recurrence mechanism of macular edema, and the limitations and development prospects.The article aimed to help ophthalmologists have a more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of RVO disease and lay an important foundation for accurately and effectively guiding disease treatment and predicting patients’ prognosis vision.

Retinal vein occlusion; Optical coherence tomography angiography; Image features; Review