OCT-A Findings and Usefulness in Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract

The eye is a window to the brain because of its inherent connection to the central nervous system (CNS). Several brain disorders manifest as ophthalmic abnormalities and can be detected through a detailed assessment of the eyes. In the last decade, extensive evaluation of retinal microvascular changes using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) has been performed for several diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Although the results from the available studies are conflicting (mainly due to heterogeneous study populations), they agree on the applicability of this technology for the early identification of these diseases. This chapter summarizes the OCT-A screening and monitoring uses for these diseases and hypotheses for the potential identification of disease characteristics.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Autoimmune diseases, Binarization, Cognitive impairment, Foveal avascular zone, Fundus fluorescein angiography, Hydroxychloroquine, Macular perfusion, Neurodegenerative diseases, Optical Coherent Topography, Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography, Parkinson's disease, Perfusion density, Retinal vessel density, Retinal thinning, Skeletonization, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Vascular perfusion indices, Vessel density.