AbstractPurpose To evaluate optical coherence tomography vitreous signal intensity (OCT-VI) as a biomarker of vitreous haze in a longitudinal, prospective, and standardized manner in the First-Line Antimetabolites as Steroid-Sparing Treatment (FAST) Uveitis Trial. Design Secondary analysis of a block-randomized, observer-masked, multicenter clinical trial. Subjects Two hundred sixty-seven eyes from 147 patients with uveitis enrolled in the FAST Trial were evaluated in this analysis at baseline (BL), month 6 (M6) and month 12 (M12). Methods For each patient, Heidelberg Spectralis OCT volume scans (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) were imported into the Doheny Reading Center 3D-OCTOR software and underwent a semi-automated segmentation. For each OCT volume, 5 B-scans were used to calculate the OCT-VI as a ratio of the vitreous space to the entire image. Main Outcome Measures OCT-VI at BL, M6 and M12 visits and the association with National Eye Institute (NEI) vitreous haze (VH) scale, anterior chamber (AC) cell grade, posterior synechiae (PS), lens status, visual acuity (VA) and central macular thickness (CMT). Results At BL, the median relative vitreous intensity was 0.43 (interquartile range IQR, 0.33, 0.54) and reduced to 0.39 0.27,0.53 at M6 and 0.39 0.26, 0.54 at M12. A mixed-effects linear regression model showed that OCT-VI and VH clinical grades were statistically significantly correlated (p0.05) of OCT-VI with PS or CMT. Conclusions In the FAST Uveitis Trial, OCT-VI was significantly correlated with the VH clinical grades and demonstrated significant longitudinal changes. OCT-VI may serve as a potential objective biomarker of vitreous haze.
Alhelaly et al. (Sun,) studied this question.