An Italian study of type 1 hereditary angioedema (HAE) found patients’ subclinical retinal abnormalities support the potential role of Spectral-domain OCT/OCT-angiography as a useful tool in patients’ care.
HAE due to deficiency (type 1) or dysfunction (type II) of C1 esterase inhibitor protein (C1INH) is a rare inherited disorder. While type 1 is characterised by potentially fatal attacks of subcutaneous and submucosal oedema of the upper airways, face, abdomen and extremities, swelling of the eyelids represents HAE’s only ocular manifestation.
In the 20 HAE type 1 patients/40 eyes studied, the retinal thickness measured by OCT was greater in HAE patients than in controls, while superficial and deep capillary density was lower in HAE patients.
“In HAE patients, we might assume that a subclinical oedema formation increases the thickness of the parafoveal area and leads to a ‘relative’ reduction of the vascular network by compressing the existing capillaries,” concluded authors.
