Changes in retinal vascular density measured by optical coherence tomography angiography in patients with carotid artery stenosis after carotid artery stenting and angioplasty

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of carotid artery stenting and angioplasty (CASA) on retinal vascular density (VD) in patients with severe carotid stenosis with a healthy control group and to evaluate using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

For this prospective study, eyes on the operated side constituted the ipsilateral eye group, and the other eye constituted the contralateral eye group. 40 eyes of 40 patients with ipsilateral eye of carotisid artery stenosis (CAS), 34 eyes on contralateral side, and 30 healthy eyes (control group) were included in this study. We performed quantitative OCTA analyses of retinal VD changes, before and after CASA. The main outcome measures were the quantitative changes of VD of superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP).

We evaluated the VD of ipsilateral eyes and contralateral eyes separately before and after the procedure. All patients did not have visual symptoms. There was no significant difference in the VD of SCP in all groups before the procedure. No significant change was observed in all groups when the VD of the SCP was compared before and after the procedure. The VD of the DCP in the ipsilateral and contralateral group improved significantly after CASA.

OCTA could noninvasively detect retinal VD improvements after CASA in CAS patients. Quantitative changes in VD evaluated using OCTA are thought to be early indicators in the diagnosis of CAS and in the follow-up of treatment success.