Ocular Blood Flow Measurements in Diabetic Retinopathy Using 3D Pseudocontinuous Arterial Spin Labeling

• Published in: Journal of magnetic resonance imaging Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 791 - 798
• Main Authors: Wang, Huihui, Sun, Jiao, Li, Jing, Li, Hongyang, Wang, Yanling, Wang, Zhenchang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2021; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Arteries; ASL; Blood flow; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetic retinopathy; Diabetic Retinopathy - diagnostic imaging; Evaluation; Eye; Eye (anatomy); Field strength; Humans; Labeling; Magnetic resonance imaging; nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy; ocular blood flow; Physicians; proliferative diabetic retinopathy; Prospective Studies; Retinopathy; Spin labeling; Spin Labels; Statistical analysis; Statistical tests; ocular blood flow; ASL; proliferative diabetic retinopathy; nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy
• ISSN: 1053-1807; 1522-2586; 1522-2586
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.27398

Background Distinguishing between the two broad categories of diabetic retinopathy (DR), nonproliferative DR (NPDR) and proliferative DR (PDR), is significant, as the therapeutic strategies for each are completely different. Purpose To characterize the ocular blood flow (OBF) of DR patients and evaluate the potential utility of OBF values in categorizing DR. Study Type Prospective. Subjects A total of 41 DR patients (82 eyes) were recruited in our study. Group 1 comprised 48 eyes with NPDR, and Group 2 comprised 34 eyes with PDR. Field Strength/Sequence 3D pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (3D‐pcASL) with two postlabeling delays (PLDs) was acquired at 3.0T MR. Assessment OBF values were independently obtained by two doctors from the OBF map. Statistical Tests OBF values and clinical characteristics were compared between the groups using two‐sample t‐tests and chi‐square tests. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were obtained, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. The consistency of OBF values reported by the two doctors was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results OBF values at PLDs of 1.5 seconds and 2.5 seconds were significantly lower in Group 2 than in Group 1 (P < 0.05 for both PLDs). The OBF values of Group 2 showed a greater increase than those of Group 1 from PLD 1.5 to 2.5 seconds. The AUC of OBF at the 1.5 seconds PLD was 0.90, with a cutoff of 7.73 mL/min/100 g, and the AUC of the OBF at the 2.5 seconds PLD was 0.75, with a cutoff of 8.44 mL/min/100 g. The ICC between the two observers was 0.844 for the OBF at 1.5 seconds PLD and 0.872 for the OBF at 2.5 seconds PLD. Data Conclusion PDR can be differentiated from NPDR by the value of OBF as measured by 3D‐pcASL. Level of Evidence 1 Technical Efficacy Stage 1