Evaluation of the effect of fluorescein angiography on retinal vessel diameter: an optical coherence tomography study

Purpose

To evaluate the effect of fluorescein angiography on retinal vessel diameter with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, a total of 81 eyes of 81 patients who were performed fluorescein angiography (FA) procedure were included. Retinal vessels were examined with the Spectral-domain OCT at baseline and immediately after FA procedure. A cube scan consisting of seven horizontal scans were placed at the inferior border of the disk to include the inferior temporal retinal vessels. Vessels diameters were measured at five measurement points (480–1440 μm inferiorly from the optic disk border).

Results

The mean age of the study subjects was 58.02 ± 14.1 years. At baseline, the mean diameter of the retinal artery was 120.16 ± 24.56 µm and of the vein 157.94 ± 32.34 µm at the measurement point of 480 μm, with a gradual decrease to 114.91 ± 25.59 and 152.17 ± 28.17 µm, respectively, at 1440 μm. After FA procedure, the mean diameter of the retinal artery was 122.85 ± 26.35 and of the vein 158.30 ± 32.21 µm at the measurement point of 480 μm, with a gradual decrease to 115.22 ± 22.91 and 151.94 ± 28.93 µm, respectively, at 1440 μm. There were no statistical differences for either of these comparisons at any of the points of both artery and vein measurements.

Conclusion

There was not any clinically significant change in retinal artery diameter such as a dilatatory response after FA procedure in patients with hypertension, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).