COVID-19 associated fundus lesions are mostly vascular occlusion or inflammatory changes. The affected vessels include both retinal macrovessels and microvessels, and the inflammatory changes are mainly autoimmune lesions. Clinically, the different lesions present as various fundus diseases, with varying degrees of impact on visual function. The mechanism of these lesions is considered to be related to direct injury of SARS-CoV-2, abnormal coagulation or inflammatory response caused by SARS-CoV-2. Awareness of fundus lesions associated to COVID-19 is helpful to figure out the pathophysiological mechanism of COVID-19 and promote in-depth studies for a deeper and complete understanding of the occurrence and full impact of COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of early prevention and control of the disease, and highlighting the significance of early intervention of the fundus diseases caused by COVID-19.
Noninfectious uveitis refers to a category of inflammatory diseases involving the uvea, with the exception of infectious factors or masquerade syndrome. The diagnosis and follow-up of noninfectious uveitis that involving retina or choroid require fundus imaging techniques. Fundus autofluorescence is a noninvasive imaging technique. Compared with fundus colorized photography, fundus fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography, fundus autofluorescence indicates the functional status of retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptor cells in a better way, thus playing a role in the pathophysiological mechanisms investigating, early diagnosis, disease progression monitoring and prognosis estimating of noninfectious uveitis, such as Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, Behçet disease, multifocal choroiditis, punctate inner choroidopathy, birdshot chorioretinopathy, multiple evanescent white dot syndrome, acute zonal occult outer retinopathy, acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy and serpiginous choroiditis.
Noninfectious uveitis refers to a category of inflammatory diseases involving the uvea, vitreous, optic disk and retina, with the exception of infectious factors or masquerade syndrome. These kind of blinding diseases are frequently recurrent, and the diagnosis and follow-up require fundus imaging techniques. OCT angiography (OCTA) is a rapid, noninvasive and quantifiable blood flow imaging modality that provides a depiction of the microvasculature morphology of the retinal and choroidal through different segmentation and detects the abnormal blood perfusion as well as the neovascularization. OCTA plays an important role in the diagnosis, assessment and follow-up for anterior uveitis, posterior uveitis and pan-uveitis such as Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, Behçet’s disease, ocular sarcoidosis, birdshot chorioretinopathy, serpiginous choroiditis, multifocal choroiditis, punctate inner choroidopathy, acute zonal occult outer retinopathy, acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy, multiple evanescent white dot syndrome, and also provides clue about their pathophysiologic mechanisms.
ObjectiveTo observe the features of temporal macular thinning and its value for the diagnosis of Alport syndrome (AS) in young patients.MethodsEighty-one young patients with AS (81 eyes) from Peking University First Hospital during January 2016 and July 2017 were included in this study. There were 67 males (67 eyes) and 14 females (14 eyes),the aged from 3 to 17 years, with the mean age of 9.6 years. Among 81 patients (81 eyes), there were 64 patients with X-linked AS (XLAS, including 53 males and 11 females), 17 patients with autosomal recessive AS (ARAS, including 14 males and 3 females). One hundred healthy subjects aged 4 to 17 years were included as controls. Clinical data were retrospectively evaluated, including visual acuity, slit-lamp microscopy, dilated fundus photography, and OCT. Retinal thickness was measured with an OCT scan and the temporal thinning index (TTI) was calculated as stated in a previous study. The TTI values of each group was compared by One-way ANOVA or independent sample t test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic effectiveness for AS.ResultsThe TTI of the control group, XLAS and ARAS patients were 6.46±1.58, 10.93±3.77, 12.14±4.05, respectively. Compared with the control group, the TTI value of males were larger in the XLAS and ARAS group (F=45.056, P＜0.001), the TTI value of females were larger in the ARAS group (F=26.541, P＜0.001). The difference of TTI value in females was significant between the XLAS and ARAS groups (F=26.541, P＜0.001). In males, the area under the ROC curve was 0.896 (95%CI 0.837−0.955, P＜0.001). The optimal cutoff value of the TTI was determined as 9.47, with a sensitivity of 73.1% and a specificity of 100%.ConclusionsTTI is a common ocular finding in young patients with AS. In males, a TTI ＞ 9.47 may differentiate AS from normal males.