OCTA evaluates changes in retinal microvasculature in renal hypertension patients

The objective of this study is to utilize optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) techniques for the purpose of identifying abnormalities in retinal and conjunctival vascular density among patients afflicted with renal hypertension. From October 2022 to October 2023, a cohort of sixteen patients diagnosed with renal hypertension (RH), comprising a total of 32 eyes, was selected from the Department of Nephrology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. Concurrently, a group of sixteen healthy individuals, carefully matched in characteristics, was recruited from volunteers at the Ophthalmology Research Center and designated as the healthy controls (HCs) group. Optical coherence tomography angiography was employed to assess and examine the superficial vascular plexus (SVP) and deep vascular plexus (DVP) of the macular retina in both eyes. Subsequently, a comparative analysis was conducted between the two groups, focusing on the superficial and deep retinal microvessels (MIR), macrovascular (MAR), and total microvascular (TMI). The present study employed the central annuli segmentation method (C1–C6), the hemispheric segmentation method (SL, IL, SR, IR), and the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (S, I, L, R) to evaluate deviations in retinal blood vessel density. The investigation aimed to examine the association between blood vessel density and TMI in conjunctival capillaries. A statistically significant difference ( p