| Summary: | Background: Studies (particularly, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) studies) on the peripheral microvascular bed in health are important because many retinal disorders involve its injury.
Purpose: To improve the efficacy of diagnosing the changes in the retinal microvascular bed through its OCTA-based assessment at the zones ranging from the fovea to the periphery in normal eyes.
Material and Methods: Fourteen healthy individuals were included in the study. Three sequential 3 mm x 3 mm OCTA scans with displacement from the center of the fovea to the periphery for each of the three directions (superior, inferior and temporal directions) were registered.
Results: Superficial plexus vessel density and deep plexus vessel density were assessed at 1-9 mm from the center of the fovea. We found that superficial plexus vessel density progressively increased (38-46%) with distance from the center of the fovea, whereas deep plexus vessel density moderately decreased (18-25%) with distance from the center. Superficial plexus vessel density was significantly increased in the superior and inferior directions at the zones with the presence of vascular arcades, and these arcades are absent in the temporal direction; this makes the temporal direction most reliable and promising for studies on microcirculation at the ocular periphery.
Conclusion: OCTA is an effective technique for assessing the retinal microvascular bed at the zones ranging from the fovea to the far periphery.
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