Abstract:
Purpose: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare multisystemic autoimmune disorder
characterized by microvascular damage and generalized fibrosis. The choroid has
the highest blood flow per volume of the entire body which renders it particularly
susceptible to systemic vascular changes, such as in SSc. Much of the published data
concerning SSc and the choroid alterations consists of small case studies. This review
aims to provide an overview of the current level of evidence for the role of choroidal
quantitative parameters in patients with SSc as a potential disease biomarker.
Materials and Methods: A review of literature was performed using Pubmed
without limitation on publication date. Outcomes of interest included optical
coherence tomography (OCT)- based quantitative measurements of choroidal
parameters: mean macular choroidal thickness and volume, choroidal vascularity
index (CVI) in patients with systemic sclerosis compared to health controls.
A combination of following keywords was used: “Systemic Sclerosis”, “Scleroderma”
and “Choroid”. We solely included case-control studies that investigated specific
choroidal quantitative parameters by using OCT in SSc patients compared to healthy
controls.
Results: Eleven out of 43 articles were retained. Lower choroidal thickness and
volume in the SSc compared to controls were observed in 10 articles out of 11. In
terms of CVI, this parameter was analyzed only in 2 articles and it was significantly
higher in SSc patients. No significant differences in choroidal parameters were found
within the SSc subtypes.
Conclusion: Our review of literature demonstrates proven associations between SSc
and choroid quantitative parameters, mainly in terms of choroidal thickness and
volume. Because of a paucity of case-control studies investigating the choroidal
vascularity index parameter, future standardized prospective studies are needed to
confirm the previous published results.
