Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of paravascular inner retinal abnormalities in healthy eyes.
Materials and methods
In this prospective observational case series, we included 178 healthy eyes (178 patients) with no ocular diseases. Eyes with co-existing ocular diseases, e.g., epiretinal membrane, glaucoma, or high myopia, were excluded from the current study. The posterior pole and paravascular areas of the temporal arcade vessels were comprehensively examined by dense radial scanning of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with the extended field imaging technique.
Results
On fundus photography, no inner retinal abnormalities were detected along the temporal arcade vessels. On OCT sections, paravascular inner retinal abnormalities were seen in 77 (43.3%) eyes. In 71 (39.9%) eyes, inner retinal cystoid or fissure-like spaces that had no connection to the vitreous cavity were seen adjacent to the temporal arcade vessels. Most of these lesions were detected only on several consecutive OCT sections. In four (2.2%) eyes, inner retinal cleavages with openings to the vitreous cavity were seen adjacent to the temporal arcade vessels. These lesions were more frequently detected in the inferior hemisphere and along the major retinal veins. No eyes showed typical broad defects of the inner retinal tissue. There were no significant differences in age, gender, visual acuity, refractive error, or axial length between eyes with or without paravascular inner retinal abnormalities.
Conclusions
Paravascular cystoid or fissure-like spaces were frequently seen in the inner retina of healthy eyes. However, we detected no typical paravascular inner retinal defects in healthy eyes.
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Research involving human participants
This prospective study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine and conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.
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Written informed consent was obtained from each subject before any study procedure or examination was performed.
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Osaka, R., Manabe, S., Miyoshi, Y. et al. Paravascular inner retinal abnormalities in healthy eyes. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 255, 1743–1748 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-017-3717-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-017-3717-7