AIM: To observe the macular retina vascular density of patients with acute central retinal artery occlusion(CRAO)by optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA)and to analyze the relationship with retinal circulation time of these patients on fundus fluorescein angiography(FFA).

METHODS: Retrospective case analysis. A total of 43 patients(43 eyes)from January 2019 to March 2021 admitted to Shaanxi Eye Hospital with clinical diagnosis of acute CRAO(course of disease ≤7d)were included. All patients underwent FFA, OCTA, best corrected visual acuity(BCVA)examination and thrombolytic therapy. The patients with enhanced or unchanged retinal blood flow signal in the affected eye showed on OCTA before treatment compared with the contralateral healthy eye were assigned to group A, and the patients with retinal blood flow signal of the affected eye was lower than that in the contralateral healthy eye by OCTA were assigned to group B. Image J software was used for OCTA image processing to evaluate the macular retina vascular density before treatment, and FFA examination was performed to record the affected retinal circulation time before treatment.

RESULTS: The retinal vascular density of patients in the affected eye and the contralateral healthy eye in group A was higher than that in group B(25.08%±4.40% vs 12.24%±3.41%, 25.72%±2.70% vs 17.89%±4.55%, all P<0.001), the filling time(FT)of retinal artery trunk to terminal in group B \〖96(20.50, 193.50)s\〗 was longer than that in group A \〖11(5.00, 19.50)s\〗(P<0.001). The course of disease, the retinal vascular density of contralateral healthy eye and FT were related factors of retinal vascular density of the affected eye(all P<0.05), and the influence strength order was FT, course of disease and the retinal vascular density of contralateral healthy eye, in which the course of disease and FT was negatively correlated with the retinal vascular density.

CONCLUSION: OCTA retinal vascular density was correlated with FFA retinal circulation time in CRAO patients.