Nailfold capillary morphology changes in patients with retinal vein occlusion

Aim

To investigate the changes in the morphology of nailfold capillaries in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and their relationship with retinal vessel density (RVD).

Methods

This cross-sectional study, included 30 patients with RVO and 30 normal controls. Nailfold capillaroscopy was used to evaluate the morphology of the nailfold capillaries, and optical coherence tomography angiography was used to evaluate RVD.

Results

Abnormal morphological features of nailfold capillaries, including lower capillary density (p < 0.001), more tortuous capillaries (p = 0.003), more capillary dilation >25 μm (p = 0.001), and more avascular areas >200/μm (p < 0.001), were more common in patients with RVO than in normal controls. Compared to the normal eye, the affected eyes of patients with RVO showed lower RVD in the superficial vascular plexus (SCP), intermediate capillary plexus (ICP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP). There following correlations between abnormal nailfold capillaries and RVD in affected eyes of RVO patients were observed: the number of nailfold capillary hemorrhages was negatively associated with RVD in the SCP (ρ = −0.376, p = 0.046) and ICP (ρ = −0.506, p = 0.004); the number of dilated capillaries >25 μm was negatively associated with RVD in the ICP (ρ = −0.389, p = 0.033); and the number of avascular zones >200/μm was negatively associated with RVD in the DCP (ρ = −0.374, p = 0.041).

Conclusions

Patients with RVO have abnormal morphology of the nailfold capillaries. In addition, nailfold capillary changes are correlated with RVD, suggesting that systemic microcirculatory abnormalities may be associated with RVO.