Zhou Shijia, Yan Qifeng, Guo Jiaqi, He Wenming, Zhao Yitian
Laboratory of Advanced Theranostic Materials and Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2025 Aug 12;13:1654159. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1654159. eCollection 2025.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of cardiovascular mortality worldwide, and its early diagnosis is essential for prevention and treatment. Emerging evidence from ocular imaging suggests that structural and functional alterations in the retinal vasculature may mirror systemic vascular changes, offering a promising avenue for the early identification of cardiovascular conditions such as CAD. Among these techniques, OCTA stands out as a non-invasive, high-resolution modality capable of capturing detailed microvascular architecture and quantifying retinal blood flow dynamics. In this study, we analyzed OCTA images from 747 participants including 332 patients with CAD and 415 controls to extract retinal microvascular parameters and evaluate their associations with disease status. The results revealed that patients with CAD exhibited significantly lower retinal vessel density, vessel length density, tortuosity, and vascular bifurcation complexity on OCTA compared to controls, particularly in the left eye. This suggests possible lateral asymmetry in microvascular responses associated with CAD. Overall, we highlight the potential of OCTA-derived retinal biomarkers in supporting the early diagnosis of CAD, providing a standard tool for future clinical services and research. Biomarkers in retinal OCTA images can provide useful information for clinical decision making and diagnosis of CAD.
冠状动脉疾病（CAD）是全球心血管疾病死亡的主要原因，其早期诊断对于预防和治疗至关重要。眼部成像的新证据表明，视网膜血管系统的结构和功能改变可能反映全身血管变化，为早期识别CAD等心血管疾病提供了一条有前景的途径。在这些技术中，光学相干断层扫描血管造影（OCTA）作为一种非侵入性、高分辨率的方法脱颖而出，能够捕捉详细的微血管结构并量化视网膜血流动力学。在本研究中，我们分析了747名参与者的OCTA图像，其中包括332名CAD患者和415名对照，以提取视网膜微血管参数并评估它们与疾病状态的关联。结果显示，与对照组相比，CAD患者在OCTA上的视网膜血管密度、血管长度密度、迂曲度和血管分支复杂性显著降低，尤其是在左眼。这表明与CAD相关的微血管反应可能存在侧方不对称性。总体而言，我们强调了OCTA衍生的视网膜生物标志物在支持CAD早期诊断方面的潜力，为未来临床服务和研究提供了一种标准工具。视网膜OCTA图像中的生物标志物可为CAD的临床决策和诊断提供有用信息。
