Quantitative evaluation of retinal and choroidal changes in Fabry disease using optical coherence tomography angiography

To examine the retinal and choroidal changes in patients with Fabry disease (FD) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). FD patients and age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were enrolled. A detailed ophthalmological examination was performed for all participants. The retinal thickness, ganglion cell layer with inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness, choroidal thickness (CT), vessel length density (VLD), vessel perfusion density (VPD), and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) were analyzed in a detailed way with OCTA. Moreover, all FD patients underwent several laboratory tests to evaluate systemic conditions. A total of 54 subjects comprising 26 FD patients and 28 normal controls were enrolled. The retinal thickness, GCIPL thickness, and FAZ area showed no significant differences between the two groups (all P > 0.05). Only the superior CT in FD patients was significantly thinner than that in the normal subjects ( P = 0.040). The macular VLD and VPD in the FD group were significantly reduced compared with the healthy controls ( P = 0.026, P = 0.008). The macular VLD in FD patients had no significant correlations with different laboratory results (all P > 0.05), while the macular VPD were negatively correlated with creatinine ( r = − 0.432, P = 0.028) and cystatin C ( r = − 0.422, P = 0.032). FD patients may have retinal vascular dropout and choroidal vascular alterations. Analysis of vessel density using OCTA might be useful in the clinical assessment in FD patients.