AIM: To explore the clinical application value of optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA)in patients with retinal vein occlusion(RVO).

METHODS:Retrospective case study. From January 2018 to December 2019, 40 cases with 40 eyes of RVO patients diagnosed in the Eye Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University were selected, and 40 healthy subjects with 42 eyes matching the age and gender of RVO patients were selected as normal control group. OCTA was used to measure the papillary vessel density of the two groups, differences in parameters were evaluated.

RESULTS: The blood vessel density in the areas of the whole image blood vessels(t=-2.953, P<0.001), the peripapillary blood vessels(t=-3.533, P=0.001), the whole image capillaries(t=-3.192, P=0.003), the peripapillary capillaries(t=-3.930, P<0.001), inferior nasal(t=-2.854, P=0.007), inferior tempo(t=-3.696, P=0.001), tempo inferior(t=-3.418, P=0.002), tempo superior(t=-3.170, P=0.003), superior tempo(t=-3.082, P=0.004)and superior nasal(t=-2.912, P=0.006)in the eyes of patients with RVO was significantly lower than that of the fellow eyes of patients with RVO. The blood vessel flow density in the all areas of in the eyes of patients with RVO was significantly lower than that of the normal control group. The blood vessel density in the areas of the whole image blood vessels(t=-2.213, P=0.032), the blood vessels inside disc(t=-2.270, P=0.028), the whole image capillaries(t=-2.192, P=0.033), capillaries inside disc(t=-2.449, P=0.018)and tempo superior(t=-2.147, P=0.037)in the fellow eyes of patients with RVO was significantly lower than that of the normal control group.

CONCLUSION:Quantitative OCTA reveals a decrease in the vessel density of papillary area of patients with retinal vein occlusion, suggesting that papillary area with quantified OCTA has clinicalapplication value for the assessment of the severity and prevention of the fellow eyes with retinal vein occlusion disease.