Posterior segment evaluation of patients with systemic sclerosis using optical coherence tomography angiography

Purpose Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease with ocular affection. This study aimed to evaluate the retinal microvascular changes in SCSs patients using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Patients and methods This prospective observational case–control study comprised 20 eyes of 20 SSc patients as group I and another 20 eyes of 20 normal patients as group II. All the study members were examined with OCTA in addition to a complete ophthalmic examination. Results Both groups had more females sex than males without significant differences between them. Also, the mean age difference was statistically insignificant, with nearly the same range, which was 30–59 years in group I and 32–58 years in group II. Analysis of OCTA parameters revealed significantly lower differences in group I in the superficial vessel density (VD) at parafoveal, temporal, superior, and nasal quadrants. Lower values were recorded in group I at all zones of the deep capillary plexus with statistically significant differences except at the foveal zone. VD measurements of the choriocapillaris revealed no statistically significant differences between groups in all zones. Conclusion The OCTA has demonstrated the impairment of retinal microcirculation, confirming the presence of vascular damage. The duration of the disease correlated with the deep capillary plexus-VD and choriocapillaris VD. So, once SSc has been diagnosed, microvascular retinal and choroidal evaluations should be considered to identify any subclinical alterations using OCTA.