Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the retinal and choroidal vasculature between healthy subjects and the fellow eyes of patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). METHODS: We recruited patients with unilateral RRD and healthy controls. An ultra-widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (UWF-SS-OCTA) was applied to measure the retinal and choroidal vessel densities across the entire image and nine quadrants. Additionally, we used ultra-widefield scanning light ophthalmoscopy (UWF-SLO) to capture the fundus lesions in the fellow eye of the patients with RRD. RESULTS: The study recruited 53 healthy subjects and 42 patients with unilateral RRD. The fellow-eye RRD group had a significantly larger foveal avascular zone (FAZ; P = 0.006) and reduced choroidal thickness (CT) compared to the control group. Furthermore, the fellow-eye RRD group showed significantly lower retinal vessel densities in superficial vascular plexus (SVP; P = 0.024), full retinal layer (P = 0.019), and choroidal parameters, including choroidal vascularity volume (CVV; P = 0.016), choroidal vascularity index (CVI; P = 0.030), and choroidal stromal volume (CSV; P = 0.031). Pigmentary lesions (28.6%), lattice degeneration (16.7%), and retinal hole (4.8%) were found by SLO images. Some cases did not reveal morphological abnormalities in the retina, but choroidal vessel loss was evident on OCTA. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the early abnormalities in retinal and choroidal blood perfusion in the fellow-eye RRD group, which may provide potential pathophysiology and clinical applications. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: The study underscores the fundus alterations in the fellow eyes of patients with RRD, as detected by OCTA and UWF-SLO.