Choroidal vascular alterations in patients with Helicobacter pylori gastritis

Background and study aims

This study aims to examine the impact of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) gastritis, a condition that induces chronic inflammation in the body, on subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and choroidal vascular index (CVI) measurements.

Patients and methods

In this prospective study, data were collected from 76 patients who visited the gastroenterology clinic, had their H. pylori diagnosis confirmed through gastric biopsy, and had not yet received treatment. An additional 76 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals formed the control group. Subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) was measured using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) (Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). CVI measurements were obtained by dividing the subfoveal choroidal area in the EDI-OCT images into luminal and stromal areas using the image binarization technique.

Results

The mean SFCT was 359.14 ± 24.23 µm in the H. pylori-positive group and 353.62 ± 12.78 µm in the control group, with no statistically significant difference between the groups (p = 0.782). Similarly, the choroidal vascular index (CVI) was 0.63 in the H. pylori group and 0.62 in the control group, with no significant difference observed (p = 0.08).

Conclusion

Results indicate that SFCT and CVI measurements do not undergo significant changes during the active phase of H. pylori infection compared to the control group.