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Inner retinal layers’ alterations of the microvasculature in early stages of Parkinson’s disease: a cross sectional study

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate microcirculation characteristics of the inner retinal layers at the macula and the peripapillary area using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) of patients in early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods

32 PD patients and 46 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were included in this cross sectional study. OCT-A imaging was performed to analyze microcirculation characteristics at each separate macular region (fovea, parafovea, and perifovea) and the peripapillary area of the inner retinal layers.

Results

Individuals with PD had significantly lower parafoveal, perifoveal and total vessel density (VD) in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) than controls (all p < 0.001), while foveal VD was higher in PD eyes than that of controls, though not statistically significant. Similarly, individuals with PD had significantly lower parafoveal, perifoveal and total perfusion in the SCP than control eyes (all p < 0.001), while foveal perfusion was significantly higher in PD eyes than that of controls (p = 0.008). PD eyes had significantly smaller FAZ area and perimeter accompanied by decreased circularity at the SCP as compared to controls (all p < 0.001). Concerning the peripapillary area, individuals with PD had significantly lower radial peripapillary capillary perfusion density and flux index at the SCP than controls (all p < 0.001). All p values remained statistically significant even after using the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, except for that of foveal perfusion.

Conclusions

Our study indicates alterations of the inner retinal layers at the macula and the peripapillary area at the preliminary stages of PD. OCT-A parameters could potentially comprise imaging biomarkers for PD screening and improve the diagnostic algorithms.

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Acknowledgements

All authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship for this article, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given their approval for this version to be published.

Funding

No funding or sponsorship was received for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45110, Ioannina, Greece

    Evita Evangelia Christou, Christoforos Asproudis, Maria Stefaniotou & Ioannis Asproudis

  2. Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

    Spiridon Konitsiotis & Alexandros Giannakis

  3. Department of Hygiene, Social-Preventive Medicine & Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Konstantinos Pamporis

Authors
  1. Evita Evangelia Christou
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  4. Alexandros Giannakis
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  5. Christoforos Asproudis
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  7. Ioannis Asproudis
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Contributions

EEC collected data, drafted and wrote the main manuscript. SK collected and interpreted data and reviewed the manuscript. KP made the statistical analysis, contributed to writing and reviewing the manuscript. AG collected and interpreted data and reviewed the manuscript. CA collected data and reviewed the manuscript. MS drafted and reviewed the manuscript. IA interpreted data, reviewed the manuscript, conceived and supervised the study. All authors have read, critically revised and approved the current version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Evita Evangelia Christou.

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Ethical approval

The study was conducted at the Department of Ophthalmology of the University Hospital of Ioannina, Greece after receiving approval from the institutional ethics committee and adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Christou, E.E., Konitsiotis, S., Pamporis, K. et al. Inner retinal layers’ alterations of the microvasculature in early stages of Parkinson’s disease: a cross sectional study. Int Ophthalmol 43, 2533–2543 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02653-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02653-x

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