Microvascular research最新文献

{"title":"Analysis of nailfold capillaroscopy images with artificial intelligence: Data from literature and performance of machine learning and deep learning from images acquired in the SCLEROCAP study","authors":"Lutfi Ozturk ,&nbsp;Charlotte Laclau ,&nbsp;Carine Boulon ,&nbsp;Marion Mangin ,&nbsp;Etheve Braz-ma ,&nbsp;Joel Constans ,&nbsp;Loubna Dari ,&nbsp;Claire Le Hello","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104753","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104753","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To evaluate the performance of machine learning and then deep learning to detect a systemic scleroderma (SSc) landscape from the same set of nailfold capillaroscopy (NC) images from the French prospective multicenter observational study SCLEROCAP.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>NC images from the first 100 SCLEROCAP patients were analyzed to assess the performance of machine learning and then deep learning in identifying the SSc landscape, the NC images having previously been independently and consensually labeled by expert clinicians. Images were divided into a training set (70 %) and a validation set (30 %). After features extraction from the NC images, we tested six classifiers (random forests (RF), support vector machine (SVM), logistic regression (LR), light gradient boosting (LGB), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), K-nearest neighbors (KNN)) on the training set with five different combinations of the images. The performance of each classifier was evaluated by the F1 score. In the deep learning section, we tested three pre-trained models from the TIMM library (ResNet-18, DenseNet-121 and VGG-16) on raw NC images after applying image augmentation methods.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>With machine learning, performance ranged from 0.60 to 0.73 for each variable, with Hu and Haralick moments being the most discriminating. Performance was highest with the RF, LGB and XGB models (F1 scores: 0.75–0.79). The highest score was obtained by combining all variables and using the LGB model (F1 score: 0.79 ± 0.05, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01). With deep learning, performance reached a minimum accuracy of 0.87. The best results were obtained with the DenseNet-121 model (accuracy 0.94 ± 0.02, F1 score 0.94 ± 0.02, AUC 0.95 ± 0.03) as compared to ResNet-18 (accuracy 0.87 ± 0.04, F1 score 0.85 ± 0.03, AUC 0.87 ± 0.04) and VGG-16 (accuracy 0.90 ± 0.03, F1 score 0.91 ± 0.02, AUC 0.91 ± 0.04).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>By using machine learning and then deep learning on the same set of labeled NC images from the SCLEROCAP study, the highest performances to detect SSc landscape were obtained with deep learning and in particular DenseNet-121. This pre-trained model could therefore be used to automatically interpret NC images in case of suspected SSc. This result nevertheless needs to be confirmed on a larger number of NC images.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104753"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142400709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Short communications: Endothelin-1 in cardiac allograft vasculopathy","authors":"George R. Abraham ,&nbsp;Anthony P. Davenport ,&nbsp;Stephen P. Hoole","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104751","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104751","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a leading cause of death following heart transplant. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a highly potent vasoconstrictor peptide derived from the vascular endothelium with multiple biological actions known to be relevant for CAV. We assessed the trans-myocardial gradient (TMG: coronary sinus minus coronary artery concentration: negative = extraction, positive = secretion) of ET-1 in heart transplant patients to determine correlations with angiographic, Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) features of CAV.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Vessels with more severe CAV demonstrated significantly higher (more positive) ET-1 TMG (IVUS Stanford Grade IV: −0.05 [−0.21, 0.13] pg/ml versus Stanford Grade I-III: −0.31 [−0.64, −0.11] pg/ml, <em>p</em> = 0.01). ET-1 TMG was positively correlated with mean intimal thickness on both IVUS and OCT (IVUS: Kendall's tau-b = 0.254, <em>p</em> = 0.02 and OCT: Kendall's tau-b = 0.344, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.0001). Patients who died had net ET-1 release compared with surviving patients (died: 0.21 [0.19–0.24] versus surviving: −0.28 [−0.52, −0.17], <em>p</em> = 0.01).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>In heart transplant patients, coronary arteries with more intimal thickening are associated with a higher (more positive) trans-myocardial gradient of ET-1, suggesting that up-regulated ET-1 release in the coronary circulation may be permissive for the development of CAV.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104751"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142372307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Computer-assisted evaluation of retinal vessel tortuosity in children with sickle cell disease without retinopathy","authors":"Lina H. Raffa ,&nbsp;Enass H. Raffa ,&nbsp;Álvaro S. Hervella ,&nbsp;Lucía Ramos ,&nbsp;Jorge Novo ,&nbsp;José Rouco ,&nbsp;Marcos Ortega","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104752","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104752","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>We assessed the predictive efficacy of automatically quantified retinal vascular tortuosity from the fundus pictures of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) without evident retinopathy.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Retinal images were obtained from 31 healthy and 31 SCD participants using fundus imaging and analyzed using a novel computational automated metric assessment. The local and global vessel tortuosity and their relationship with systemic disease parameters were analyzed based on the images.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>SCD arteries had an increased local tortuosity index compared to the controls (0.0007 ± 0.0019 vs. 0.0006 ± 0.0014, <em>p</em> = 0.019). Furthermore, the SCD patients had wider vessel caliber mainly in the arteries (14.68 ± 5.3 vs. 14.06 ± 5.3, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001). The SCD global tortuosity did not differ significantly from that of the controls (<em>p</em> = 0.598). The female participants had significantly reduced retinal vessel tortuosity indices compared to the male participants (<em>p</em> = 0.018).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Retinal arterial tortuosity and caliber were reliable and objective measures that could be used as a non-invasive prognostic and diagnostic indicator in sickle cell retinopathy. Further studies are required to correlate these local vascular parameters to systemic risk factors and monitor their progression and change over time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104752"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142372306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Coronary microvascular dysfunction and autoregulatory capacity interfere with resting Dicrotic notch morphology","authors":"Ahmet Tas ,&nbsp;Yaren Alan ,&nbsp;Ali Müftüoğulları ,&nbsp;Abdullah I.M. Haj Mohammad ,&nbsp;Sabahattin Umman ,&nbsp;Kim H. Parker ,&nbsp;Murat Sezer","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104750","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104750","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coronary microvascular vasodilator capacity is substantially associated with coronary pressure waveform and dicrotic notch morphology, with or without concomitant epicardial disease. A prominent dicrotic notch is associated with preserved microvascular vasodilatory capacity and adequate resting microvascular tonus without relative hyperaemic state, cumulatively indicating a better microcirculatory health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104750"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142365805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Concentration-dependent microvascular responses to repeated iontophoresis of acetylcholine","authors":"Fredrik Iredahl ,&nbsp;Erik Tesselaar ,&nbsp;Hanna Jonasson ,&nbsp;Daniel Wilhelms ,&nbsp;Joakim Henricson","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Iontophoresis studies face challenges due to the unknown absolute drug dose delivered and the possible effect of the current used in drug delivery on the microvessels, known as current-induced vasodilation. This study aimed to investigate how various concentrations of acetylcholine (ACh), delivered through transdermal iontophoresis using repeated current pulses, impact the recovery profile of the microvascular response.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The study included fifteen healthy volunteers, and microvascular responses to five concentrations of iontophorised ACh (ranging from 0.0055 mM to 55 mM) and sterile water were assessed at six forearm skin sites using polarized reflectance spectroscopy. Iontophoresis at each concentration involved three consecutive pulses separated 8 recovery periods.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Current-induced responses were more pronounced for lower concentrations of ACh and for sterile water. With repeated pulses, lower concentrations of ACh exhibited a recovery profile more akin to higher concentrations.</div></div><div><h3>Perspective</h3><div>Through repeated iontophoresis of ACh, microvascular responses exhibit variation based on the drug concentration and the number of pulses administered. These variations are likely attributed to changes in skin conductivity and permeability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104749"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142365804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Follow-up assessment of the microvascular function in patients with long COVID","authors":"Marzena Romanowska-Kocejko ,&nbsp;Alicja Braczko ,&nbsp;Agata Jędrzejewska ,&nbsp;Marta Żarczyńska-Buchowiecka ,&nbsp;Tomasz Kocejko ,&nbsp;Barbara Kutryb-Zając ,&nbsp;Marcin Hellmann","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104748","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104748","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Long COVID is a complex pathophysiological condition. However, accumulating data suggests that COVID-19 is a systemic microvascular endothelial dysfunction with different clinical manifestations. In this study, a microvascular function was assessed in long COVID patients (<em>n</em> = 33) and healthy controls (<em>n</em> = 30) using flow-mediated skin fluorescence technique (FMSF), based on measurements of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide fluorescence intensity during brachial artery occlusion (ischemic response, IR) and immediately after occlusion (hyperemic response, HR). Microcirculatory function readings were taken twice, 3 months apart. In addition, we quantified biochemical markers such as the serum L-arginine derivatives and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) to assess their relation with microvascular parameters evaluated in vivo. In patients with long COVID, serum HIF1α was significantly correlated to IR_index (<em>r</em> = −0.375, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). Similarly, there was a significant inverse correlation of serum asymmetric dimethyl-L-arginine levels to both HR_max (<em>r</em> = −0.343, p &lt; 0.05) and HR_index (<em>r</em> = −0.335, p &lt; 0.05). The IR parameters were found lower or negative in long COVID patients and recovered in three-month follow-up. Hypoxia sensitivity value was significantly higher in long COVID patients examined after three months of treatment based on the combination of ACE-inhibitors and beta-adrenolytic compared to baseline condition (85.2 ± 73.8 vs. 39.9 ± 51.7 respectively, <em>p</em> = 0.009). This study provides evidence that FMSF is a sensitive, non-invasive technique to track changes in microvascular function that was impaired in long COVID and recovered after 3 months, especially in patients receiving a cardioprotective therapy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104748"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142240158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inter-eye asymmetry of microvascular density in patients on hydroxychloroquine therapy by optical coherence tomography angiography","authors":"Huangdong Li ,&nbsp;Jingyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Xi Yin ,&nbsp;Zheng Xiang ,&nbsp;Wangjian Qiu ,&nbsp;Amy Michelle Huang ,&nbsp;Li Wang ,&nbsp;Quan Lv ,&nbsp;Zhiping Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104747","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104747","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aims</h3><div>To explore the inter-eye retinal microvascular density asymmetry of patients on hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) therapy through optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>40 subjects were enrolled in this cross-sectional study, including 20 systemic lupus erythematasus patients currently treated with HCQ (40 eyes) and 20 age- and sex-matched normal controls (NCs, 40 eyes). OCTA images were obtained to measure macular and peripapillary mircrovasculatures and microstructures, including vessel density, retinal nerver fiber layer thickness, and peripapillary ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness. The absolute values of the difference between right and left eyes were taken as a measure of inter-eye asymmetry.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Macular whole image vessel density (wiVD-M) and perifoveal vessel density (pfVD) of superficial capillary plexus (SCP) were notably reduced in both the right and left eyes of the HCQ treatment group compared with NCs. Specifically, SLE patients treated with HCQ have higher inter-eye asymmetry of wiVD-M of SCP (2.28 ± 1.03 vs 1.27 ± 0.79, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01) and pfVD of SCP (2.55 ± 1.26 vs 1.78 ± 1.06, <em>p</em> = 0.04) compared with NCs. There were no significant differences in inter-eye asymmetry of structure parameters. Inter-eye asymmetry of wiVD-M of SCP (AUC = 0.80, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.01) and pfVD of SCP (AUC = 0.71, <em>p</em> = 0.02) exhibited greater discrimination power.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>SLE Patients treated with HCQ exhibited a notably higher inter-eye vessel density asymmetry compared to that of NCs. Thus, inter-eye vessel density asymmetry could be used to screen for HCQ retinal toxicity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104747"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142257971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainability of shear stress conditioning in endothelial colony-forming cells compared to human aortic endothelial cells to underline suitability for tissue-engineered vascular grafts","authors":"Jannis Renzelmann,&nbsp;Sebastian Heene,&nbsp;Rebecca Jonczyk,&nbsp;Jana Krüger,&nbsp;Suhayla Alnajjar,&nbsp;Cornelia Blume","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104746","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104746","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The endothelialization of cardiovascular implants is supposed to improve the long-term patency of these implants. In addition, in previous studies, it has been shown, that the conditioning of endothelial cells by dynamic cultivation leads to the expression of an anti-thrombogenic phenotype. For the creation of a tissue-engineered vascular graft (TEVG), these two strategies were combined to achieve optimal hemocompatibility. In a clinical setup, this would require the transfer of the already endothelialized construct from the conditioning bioreactor to the patient. Therefore, the reversibility of the dynamic conditioning of the endothelial cells with arterial-like high shear stress (20 dyn/cm²) was investigated to define the timeframe (tested in a range of up to 24 h) for the perseverance of dynamically induced phenotypical changes. Two types of endothelial cells were compared: endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) and human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). The results showed that ECFCs respond far more sensitively and rapidly to flow than HAECs. The resulting cell alignment and increased protein expression of KLF-2, Notch-4, Thrombomodulin, Tie2 and eNOS monomer was paralleled by increased eNOS and unaltered KLF-2 mRNA levels even under stopped-flow conditions. VCAM-1 mRNA and protein expression was downregulated under flow and did not recover under stopped flow. From these time kinetic results, we concluded, that the maximum time gap between the TEVG cultivated with autologous ECFCs in future reactor cultivations and the transfer to the potential TEVG recipient should be limited to ∼6 h.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104746"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026286224000955/pdfft?md5=fee775efdfe2befebd14889481e9b1b5&pid=1-s2.0-S0026286224000955-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142274433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foveal avascular zone area measurement in diabetic patients: Superficial, deep or combined retinal vascular complex?","authors":"Bruno Pereira ,&nbsp;Ross Faria ,&nbsp;Cátia Domingues ,&nbsp;Ana Barros ,&nbsp;Teresa Varandas ,&nbsp;José Henriques ,&nbsp;João Nascimento ,&nbsp;Elisabete Carolino ,&nbsp;Pedro Camacho","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104743","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104743","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>To compare differences in the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, measured in the Superficial Vascular Complex (SVC), Deep Vascular Complex (DVC) and a combined analysis of both (SDVC), using two Spectral Domain OCT angiography (OCT-A) protocols, High Speed (HS) and High Resolution (HR).</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A total of 26 eyes of diabetic patients, with and without macular oedema, were examined with two different fovea centered OCT-A volume scans. The two protocols were HS and HR volume scans, and the foveal avascular zone was manually measured in the SVC, DVC, and SDVC slabs by two masked investigators. Inter and intraoperator variability was analysed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and differences were compared between the HR and HS acquisitions throughout the different vascular slabs.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Intraoperator variability was low in all slabs (ICC &gt; 0.9) and interoperator variability was lower for HR (ICC 0.835–0.911) compared to HS (ICC between 0.604 and 0.865). Comparing HS and HR measurements for the same slab, the correlation was only moderate in SVC and DVC (ICC was 0.640 and 0.568 respectively) but was good in the SDVC (ICC = 0.823). FAZ area measurement in SDVC also showed the smallest bias (mean difference 0.009 mm²) and the narrowest limits of agreement (−0.175 to 0.193 mm²).</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Even in cases of diabetic macular oedema, when measuring the FAZ area, the reproducibility was better between HS and HR protocols when using the SDVC slab, compared to the SVC or DVC slabs alone. Further studies should evaluate the use of the combined SDVC slab for the FAZ assessment, compared to the SVC and DVC slabs alone, in the detection and progression of different retinal diseases.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104743"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002628622400092X/pdfft?md5=a90bc05e59dd6ae465f9a64705a72f39&pid=1-s2.0-S002628622400092X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142168304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Conjunctival microvascular alteration in patients with coronary artery disease assessed using optical coherence tomographic angiography","authors":"Jing Liu ,&nbsp;Zhaoxia Zheng ,&nbsp;Jiayi Sun ,&nbsp;Xiaoya Gu ,&nbsp;Xue Yu ,&nbsp;Yanling Wang ,&nbsp;Xiaobing Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104733","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mvr.2024.104733","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>To quantify conjunctival microvascular characteristics obtained by optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA) and investigate their relationship with the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD).</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>This cross-sectional study included 103 consecutive CAD patients confirmed by coronary angiography and 125 non-CAD controls. The temporal conjunctivas along the limbus of each participant were scanned using OCTA. Quantification of conjunctival microvasculature was performed by AngioTool software. The severity of the disease was evaluated using SYNTAX and Gensini scores.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Compared to the controls, the CAD group exhibited significantly lower vessel area density (30.22 ± 3.34 vs. 26.70 ± 4.43 %, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001), lower vessel length density (6.39 ± 0.77 vs. 5.71 ± 0.89/m, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001), lower junction density (3.44 ± 0.56 vs. 3.05 ± 0.63/m, p &lt; 0.001), and higher lacunarity (0.11 ± 0.03 vs. 0.14 ± 0.05, p &lt; 0.001). Among all participants, lower vessel area density, lower vessel length density, lower junction density, and higher lacunarity were associated with greater odds of having CAD; the adjusted ORs (95 % confidence intervals) per one SD decrease were 2.71 (1.71, 4.29), 2.51(1.61, 3.90), 2.06 (1.39, 3.05), and 0.36 (0.23, 0.58), respectively. Among CAD patients, junction density was negatively associated with the Gensini score (<em>r</em> = −0.359, <em>p</em> = 0.037) and the Syntax score (<em>r</em> = −0.350, <em>p</em> = 0.042) in women but not in men (<em>p</em> &gt; 0.05).</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Conjunctival microvascular characteristics were significantly associated with the presence of CAD. Junction density significantly associated with the severity of CAD among women patients.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18534,"journal":{"name":"Microvascular research","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 104733"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142140528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}