Quantitative Analysis of Retinal and Choroidal Microvascular Changes in Adult IBD Patients: Insights into the Gut-Retina Axis.
The study suggests measurable retinal and choroidal microvascular differences in people with IBD versus controls, which could point to systemic vascular effects of inflammation and offer noninvasive biomarker possibilities for a gut–retina connection.
Clinicians (gastroenterology, ophthalmology), researchers studying IBD biomarkers or ocular manifestations, and patients with IBD who have eye symptoms or are interested in extraintestinal effects.
What To Know
This study used optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to compare retinal and choroidal microvascular measures between adults with IBD (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) and matched healthy controls and found higher retinal vessel density and choroidal flow area in the IBD group.
The paper reports that IBD patients showed increased parafoveal vessel density in both superficial and deep capillary plexuses and greater choriocapillaris blood flow area on OCTA compared with controls.
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease showed different patterns for some metrics (for example, UC had higher superficial foveal density; CD had larger foveal avascular zone). The authors suggest these changes may reflect systemic inflammatory vascular effects and propose OCTA metrics as candidate noninvasive biomarkers for a "gut–retina" axis.
The study was a prospective case–control design with 88 IBD patients and 88 matched controls and used standard OCTA scan protocols. The authors note the need for future longitudinal work that adjusts for disease activity and treatments before these measures could be validated as clinical biomarkers.
Clinicians who manage IBD patients with extraintestinal eye concerns, ophthalmology researchers studying retinal vascular imaging, and IBD researchers interested in biomarkers or systemic vascular effects of inflammation. This classification is based on the article abstract (structured content depth: abstract).
The findings are cross-sectional and do not establish that OCTA metrics predict clinical outcomes; the authors call for longitudinal validation and adjustment for treatments and disease activity.
Results come from a prospective case–control study and are reported in an abstract; the authors emphasize the need for longitudinal studies that control for disease activity and treatments before OCTA metrics can be used clinically.
