Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography

Abstract Quantitative imaging using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could provide objective tools for the detection and characterization of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In this study, an operator combining the second derivative and Gaussian multiscale convolution is applied to identify...

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Main Authors: Yanhui Ma, Matthew P. Ohr, Xueliang Pan, Cynthia J. Roberts
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2021-08-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95219-9
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author Yanhui Ma
Matthew P. Ohr
Xueliang Pan
Cynthia J. Roberts
author_facet Yanhui Ma
Matthew P. Ohr
Xueliang Pan
Cynthia J. Roberts
author_sort Yanhui Ma
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Quantitative imaging using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could provide objective tools for the detection and characterization of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In this study, an operator combining the second derivative and Gaussian multiscale convolution is applied to identify the retinal orientation at each pixel in the OCTA image. We quantified the pattern of retinal vascular orientation and developed three novel quantitative metrics including vessel preferred orientation, vessel anisotropy, and vessel area. Each of eight 45º sectors of the circular disk centered at the macular region was defined as the region of interest. Significant sectoral differences were observed in the preferred orientation (p < 0.0001) and vessel area (p < 0.0001) in the 34 healthy subjects, whereas vessel anisotropy did not demonstrate a significant difference among the eight sectors (p = 0.054). Differential retinal microvascular orientation patterns were observed between healthy controls (n = 34) and the DR subjects (n = 7). The vessel area characterized from the vascular orientation pattern was shown to be strongly correlated with the traditionally reported vessel density (Pearson R > 0.97, p < 0.0001). With three metrics calculated from the vascular orientation pattern simultaneously and sectorally, our quantitative assessment for retinal microvasculature provides more information than vessel density alone and thereby may enhance the detection of DR. These preliminary results suggest the feasibility and advantage of our vessel orientation-based quantitative approach using OCTA to characterize DR-associated changes in retinal microvasculature.
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spelling doaj.art-483b5f114e2c44d280a5571d603fad4d2022-12-21T20:35:30ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-08-0111111110.1038/s41598-021-95219-9Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiographyYanhui Ma0Matthew P. Ohr1Xueliang Pan2Cynthia J. Roberts3Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Ohio State UniversityDepartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Ohio State UniversityDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State UniversityDepartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Ohio State UniversityAbstract Quantitative imaging using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) could provide objective tools for the detection and characterization of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In this study, an operator combining the second derivative and Gaussian multiscale convolution is applied to identify the retinal orientation at each pixel in the OCTA image. We quantified the pattern of retinal vascular orientation and developed three novel quantitative metrics including vessel preferred orientation, vessel anisotropy, and vessel area. Each of eight 45º sectors of the circular disk centered at the macular region was defined as the region of interest. Significant sectoral differences were observed in the preferred orientation (p < 0.0001) and vessel area (p < 0.0001) in the 34 healthy subjects, whereas vessel anisotropy did not demonstrate a significant difference among the eight sectors (p = 0.054). Differential retinal microvascular orientation patterns were observed between healthy controls (n = 34) and the DR subjects (n = 7). The vessel area characterized from the vascular orientation pattern was shown to be strongly correlated with the traditionally reported vessel density (Pearson R > 0.97, p < 0.0001). With three metrics calculated from the vascular orientation pattern simultaneously and sectorally, our quantitative assessment for retinal microvasculature provides more information than vessel density alone and thereby may enhance the detection of DR. These preliminary results suggest the feasibility and advantage of our vessel orientation-based quantitative approach using OCTA to characterize DR-associated changes in retinal microvasculature.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95219-9
spellingShingle Yanhui Ma
Matthew P. Ohr
Xueliang Pan
Cynthia J. Roberts
Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
Scientific Reports
title Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
title_full Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
title_fullStr Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
title_short Quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
title_sort quantifying the pattern of retinal vascular orientation in diabetic retinopathy using optical coherence tomography angiography
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95219-9
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