Deep segmentation of OCTA for evaluation and association of changes of retinal microvasculature with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment

Xie，Jianyang1; Yi，Quanyong2; Wu，Yufei3; Zheng，Yalin4; Liu，Yonghuai5; MacErollo，Antonella6; Fu，Huazhu7; Xu，Yanwu8; Zhang，Jiong1; Behera，Ardhendu5; Fan，Chenlei9; Frangi，Alejandro F.10; Liu，Jiang11; Lu，Qinkang12; Qi，Hong13; Zhao，Yitian1

2023

10.1136/bjo-2022-321399

British Journal of Ophthalmology   Impact Factor & Quartile

0007-1161

1468-2079

Background: Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) enables fast and non-invasive high-resolution imaging of retinal microvasculature and is suggested as a potential tool in the early detection of retinal microvascular changes in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We developed a standardised OCTA analysis framework and compared their extracted parameters among controls and AD/mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a cross-section study. Methods: We defined and extracted geometrical parameters of retinal microvasculature at different retinal layers and in the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) from segmented OCTA images obtained using well-validated state-of-the-art deep learning models. We studied these parameters in 158 subjects (62 healthy control, 55 AD and 41 MCI) using logistic regression to determine their potential in predicting the status of our subjects. Results: In the AD group, there was a significant decrease in vessel area and length densities in the inner vascular complexes (IVC) compared with controls. The number of vascular bifurcations in AD is also significantly lower than that of healthy people. The MCI group demonstrated a decrease in vascular area, length densities, vascular fractal dimension and the number of bifurcations in both the superficial vascular complexes (SVC) and the IVC compared with controls. A larger vascular tortuosity in the IVC, and a larger roundness of FAZ in the SVC, can also be observed in MCI compared with controls. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the applicability of OCTA for the diagnosis of AD and MCI, and provides a standard tool for future clinical service and research. Biomarkers from retinal OCTA images can provide useful information for clinical decision-making and diagnosis of AD and MCI.

Degeneration Retina

SCI

English

Others

National Natural Science Foundation of China[62272444] ; Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation[LR22F020008] ; Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS[2021298] ; Ningbo Major Science and Technology Task Project["2021Z054","2021Z134"] ; Medical Science and Technology Program of Zhejiang Province[2023KY1145]

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

WOS:000907663500001

BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP

CLINICAL MEDICINE

2-s2.0-85163665673

Scopus

1.Cixi Institute of Biomedical Engineering,Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Zhejiang,Ningbo,China
2.Ningbo Eye Hospital,Ningbo,Zhejiang,China
3.Department of Ophthalmology,The Affiliated People's Hospital of Ningbo University,Ningbo,Zhejiang,China
4.Department of Eye and Vision Science,University of Liverpool,Liverpool,United Kingdom
5.Department of Computer Science,Edge Hill University,Ormskirk,United Kingdom
6.Institute of Systems,Molecular and Integrative Biology,University of Liverpool,Liverpool,United Kingdom
7.Institute of High Performance Computing,Agency for Science,Technology and Research (A*STAR),Singapore
8.Intelligent Healthcare Unit,Baidu Inc,Beijing,Haidian,China
9.Department of Neurology,The Affiliated People's Hospital of Ningbo University,Ningbo,Zhejiang,China
10.School of Computing,University of Leeds,Leeds,United Kingdom
11.Department of Computer Science and Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,Guangdong,China
12.Department of Ophthalmology,Wenzhou Medical University,Wenzhou,Zhejiang,China
13.Ophthalmology,Peking University Third Hospital,Beijing,Haidian,China

Xie，Jianyang,Yi，Quanyong,Wu，Yufei,et al. Deep segmentation of OCTA for evaluation and association of changes of retinal microvasculature with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment[J]. British Journal of Ophthalmology,2023.

Xie，Jianyang.,Yi，Quanyong.,Wu，Yufei.,Zheng，Yalin.,Liu，Yonghuai.,...&Zhao，Yitian.(2023).Deep segmentation of OCTA for evaluation and association of changes of retinal microvasculature with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Xie，Jianyang,et al."Deep segmentation of OCTA for evaluation and association of changes of retinal microvasculature with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment".British Journal of Ophthalmology (2023).