Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
Assessment of microvascular involvement in lupus nephritis patients by retinal OCT-angiography and kidney biopsies
Authors' conclusion
Our results suggest the role of OCTA in early detection of systemic vascular involvement in SLE-LN patients and related kidney functional-histological impairment.
Study context
- Population
- Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with lupus nephritis (LN), SLE patients without renal involvement and healthy controls undergoing ophthalmological evaluation including optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA)eyes of 23 LN, 16 SLE, 21 controls
- Participants
- 23 / 16 / 21
- Exposure
- SLE with LN vs SLE without renal involvement vs healthy controls
- SLE-LNn = 23
- SLEn = 16
- Controlsn = 21reference
- Outcome
- Relationship between retinal microvascular alterations (OCTA) and renal functional and histologic features
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Retinal microvascular alterations by OCTA
- Reduced retinal capillary vessel density in superficial and deep plexi in both SLE and SLE-LN vs controls (high/moderate accuracy)
- Reduced fovea thickness and increased foveal avascular zone
- OCTA data of LN patients correlated with LN duration, disease activity, kidney function and LN-vascular lesions at kidney biopsy
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | SLE-LN |
|---|---|
| Lupus retinopathy by fundus oculi examination in SLE-LN | 56.5% |
| Moderate stage | 10 (77%) |
| Severe stage | 3 (23%) |
Original publication
Assessment of microvascular involvement in lupus nephritis patients by retinal OCT-angiography and kidney biopsies. Clin Exp Rheumatol. Published 28 July 2021. doi:10.
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