Altered microvascular density in patients with anorexia nervosa – an optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) pilot study

Steffen, S; Buscher, L; Leclaire, DM; Neelis, P; Alnawaiseh, M; Schneider, G; Conrad, R; Eter, N; Brücher, VC

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate macular and peripapillary vascular density (VD) in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) compared to healthy controls. Methods: Whole face scans of the superficial and deep macular layers and whole face and pe- ripapillary scans of the radial peripapillary capillaries (RPC) were obtained using optical co- herence tomography angiography (OCTA, AngioVue®, Optovue) in ten patients with AN and ten age-matched controls. The primary objective was to determine whether there was a diffe- rence between the vessel density (VD) in the above areas in AN and controls. P-values ≤ 0.0125 were considered statistically significant. Results: VD in the superficial macular en-face OCTA image was significantly lower in the stu- dy group compared to the control group. Neither the deep macula nor the radial peripapillary capillary (RPC) in the whole-face image nor the RPC-peripapillary imaging appeared to be significantly different. Conclusion: Patients with AN showed reduced VD in the superficial macular layers compared to healthy controls, which can be discussed as a consequence of the malnutrition. OCTA could be a useful non- invasive tool to detect reduced peripheral blood supply to show vascu- lar changes that occur before ocular symptoms.