RESUMEN
Purpose: Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a non-invasive and objective tool for the evaluation of the retinal microvascular changes in Fabry disease (FD). We investigated changes in retinal vasculature in FD patients, and the possible correlation with systemic parameters, by using OCTA, and reviewed the current status of literature. Methods: Thirteen FD patients (eight females, five males, mean age 49.85 ± 14.7 years) were compared with 13 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. OCTA 3 × 3 mm macular scans were performed in all subjects. We evaluated the vessel density and vessel perfusion in distinct macular areas (whole, inner, and outer) of both the superficial capillary plexus (SCP VD and SCP VP) and of the deep capillary plexus (DCP VD and DCP VP). We also evaluated the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) metrics (area, perimeter, and circularity), and correlation between systemic and OCTA parameters. A literature review on the current understanding of OCTA in FD is then presented. Results: FD patients showed significantly lower SCP VD values in the whole area (17.37 ± 2.08 mm-1 vs. 18.54 ± 1.21 mm-1; p-value 0.022), as well as in the outer area (17.46 ± 2.10 mm-1 vs. 19.08 ± 1.14 mm-1; p-value 0.002), but not in the inner. Even the DCP VD was significantly lower in all the imaged areas: whole (17.75 ± 3.93 mm-1 vs. 19.71 ± 1.20 mm-1; p-value 0.024), outer (18.25 ± 4.17 mm-1 vs. 20.33 ± 1.20 mm-1; p-value 0.023), and inner (19.54 ± 4.17 mm-1 vs. 21.96 ± 1.55 mm-1; p-value 0.011). There were no significant differences in vessel perfusion parameters (both SCP VP and DCP VP ones) and FAZ. No significant correlations were found between the OCTA parameters and systemic parameters (maximal left ventricular wall thickness and glomerular filtration rate) in FD patients. Conclusions: OCTA can be considered as a promising non-invasive tool, which enables a quantitative evaluation of retinal vascular involvement in FD, despite the varying data reported in literature. Our results support the use of OCTA as an objective tool to evaluate retinal vascular abnormalities in FD. The utility of OCTA in FD needs to be validated by longitudinal studies taking into account the overall progression of the disease.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Interferons (IFNs) are characterized by a wide range of biological effects, which justifies their potential therapeutic use in several pathologies, but also elicit a wide array of adverse effects in almost every organ system. Among them, renal involvement is probably one of the most complex to identify. CASE SUMMARY: We describe four cases of kidney damage caused by different IFN formulations: IFN-ß-related thrombotic microangiopathy, IFN-ß-induced systemic lupus erythematosus, and two cases of membranous nephropathy secondary to pegylated-IFN-α 2B. In each case, we carefully excluded any other possible cause of renal involvement. Once suspected as the casual relationship between drug and kidney damage, IFN treatment was immediately discontinued. In three cases, we observed a complete and persistent remission of clinical and laboratory abnormalities after IFN withdrawal, while the patient who developed thrombotic microangiopathy, despite IFN withdrawal and complement-inhibitor therapy with eculizumab, showed persistent severe renal failure requiring dialysis. CONCLUSION: This case series highlights the causal relationship between IFN treatment and different types of renal involvement and enables us to delineate several peculiarities of this association.
