Purpose: To evaluate the changes on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RRD) treated with pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and silicone oil (SO) 5000-cSt tamponade.
Materials and method: Forty-five eyes with macula-off RRD treated with PPV and SO tamponade were enrolled with the fellow eye being used as a control. OCT-A was obtained using the RTVue XR 100 Avanti (Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA) at the 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month postoperative visit. Retinal vascular density, choroidal flow area, retinal thickness, and foveal avascular zone area were evaluated at each follow-up visit. Changes in these parameters in the postoperative eye were tracked at each follow-up visit as were the relative differences between the postoperative eye and the contralateral eye.
Results: Vascular density of parafoveal superficial capillary plexus and total retina demonstrated significant decrease in the postoperative silicone-filled eye when compared to the fellow eye (P < 0.0001). Although there was some improvement in these values at subsequent follow-ups, they remained less than the fellow eye. Foveal (P = 0.002) and parafoveal (P < 0.0001) thickness were less than the fellow eye. Choroidal flow area did not show a significant change in operated eye compared with the fellow eye.
Conclusion: Eyes with macula-off RRD repaired with PPV and SO, at 3-month follow-up, demonstrated less retinal vascular density at parafoveal area as well as lower retinal thickness at fovea when compared to the healthy fellow eyes.
Keywords: OCTA; Retinal thickness; Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment; Silicone oil; Vascular density.