Abstract: Objective · To explore the application value of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in retinal microvascular blood flow in children with anisometropic amblyopia. Methods · 31 children with monocular anisometropic amblyopia in the Department of Ophthalmology in Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University June to August in 2018 were included. The 3 mm × 3 mm and 6 mm × 6 mm area centered on the macular area and 4.5 mm × 4.5 mm area centered on the optic disc area were detectedOCTA. The software automatically calculated the average blood flow densities of superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP), and the average blood flow densities of optic disc and the peripapillary area, the average area of foveal avascular zone (FAZ), as well as the average foveal thickness in the anisometropic amblyopia and the contralateral eyes. The anisometropic amblyopia eyes of the children were classified as the amblyopia group, and the contralateral non-ambly eyes were classified as the contralateral eye group. The differences in blood flow parameters between two groups were compared. Results · In the 3 mm × 3 mm macular scan, the average blood flow densities of SCP and DCP in the amblyopia group were (46.40±4.72)% and (52.17±2.82)%, respectively, and the average blood flow densities in the contralateral eye group were (48.48±3.46)% and (54.31±2.18)%, respectively. The differences in the average blood flow densities of SCP and DCP between two groups were statistically significant (P0.012, P0.012). In the 6 mm × 6 mm macular scan, the average blood flow densities of SCP and DCP in the amblyopia group were (47.41±3.04)% and (48.92±5.34)%, respectively, and the average blood flow densities in the contralateral eye group were (50.36±2.70)% and (51.54±4.69)%, respectively. The differences between two groups were statistically significant (P0.016, P0.046). In the 4.5 mm × 4.5 mm optic disc scan, the average blood flow densities of the optic disc in the amblyopia group and the contralateral eye group were (48.98±4.03)% and (52.06±3.90)%, respectively. The difference was also statistically significant (P 0.040). The average blood flow densities of the peripapillary area in the amblyopia group and the contralateral eye group were (52.16±2.22)% and (52.44±1.50)%, respectively. The difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion · The average blood flow densities of SCP, DCP and optic disc in the anisometropic amblyopia eyes are significantly lower than that in the contralateral eyes. OCTA has certain application value in evaluating retinal blood flow in children with anisometropic amblyopia.

Key words: anisometropia, amblyopia, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA)