In Vivo Visualization of Macrophage-Like Cells in Patients with Uveitis by Use of En Face Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography.

AIMS: To detect macrophage-like cells (MLCs) in uveitis patients and describe their characteristics compared to healthy subjects by using en face SS-OCTA. METHODS: Fifteen consecutive patients with "active" uveitis and 11 healthy participants underwent 6 macular scans of 6×6mm using SS-OCTA. The 3µm en face OCT slabs on inner limiting membrane were used to visualize the MLCs. RESULTS: In healthy subjects there was an average of 478.2±149.7 MLCs with a density of 13.28±4.16 cells/mm2. MLCs were larger in patients with "active" uveitis than in controls (891.18±69.46 µm2 vs.885±77.53 µm2). Patients with "active" anterior uveitis had a significantly reduced count and density of MLCs (172±14.68 and 4.77±0.4 cell/mm2) compared to controls, while patients with posterior uveitis had a statistically increased count (546.1±132.4) and area (909.23+/-54.97 µm2) of MLCs compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: MLCs detected with en face SS-OCTA are increased in number and size in active posterior uveitis eyes compared to controls.