Retinal microvascular phenotypes can track small vessel disease burden and CPAP treatment effectiveness in obstructive sleep apnea.
Giarratano Y., Hill EA., Hamid C., Wiseman S., Gray C., Chappell FM., Coello RD., Valdés-Hernández MC., Ballerini L., Stringer MS., Thrippleton MJ., Jaime Garcia D., Liu X., Hewins W., Cheng Y., Black SE., Lim A., Sommer R., Ramirez J., MacIntosh BJ., Brown R., Doubal F., MacGillivray T., Wardlaw JM., Riha R., Bernabeu MO.
Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) retinal imaging enables in vivo visualization of the retinal microvasculature that is developmentally related to the brain and can offer insight on cerebrovascular health. We investigated retinal phenotypes and neuroimaging markers of small vessel disease (SVD) in individuals with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). We enrolled 44 participants (mean age 50.1 ± SD 9.1 years) and performed OCT-A imaging before and after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. Pre-treatment analyses using a generalized estimating equations model adjusted for relevant covariates, revealed perivascular spaces (PVS) volume in basal ganglia associated with greater foveal vessel density (fVD) (p-value