Choroidal vascularity index in leptochoroid: A comparative analysis between reticular pseudodrusen and high myopia

Purpose: To investigate the choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in patients affected by leptochoroid. Methods: Three distinct age-matched cohorts were collected: patients with reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) secondary to age-related macular degeneration, patients with high-myopia, and healthy controls. CVI was calculated in the subfoveal 6000 μm diameter area. Results: 54 eyes (54 patients) were included (18 eyes in each cohort). No statistical differences were disclosed in terms of age between controls, RPD patients (p = 0.062), and myopic patients (p = 0.070). Total choroidal area showed a different distribution among the 3 cohorts (p < 0.001), due to the reduction of luminal and stromal choroidal area in both RPD and myopic groups in comparison to controls (p < 0.001). Interestingly, CVI showed a different distribution between the 3 cohorts (p < 0.001). In detail, RPD group showed no changes in CVI in comparison to controls (p = 1.000), whereas the myopic group showed a higher CVI in comparison to both RPD group and controls (p < 0.001 in both analyses). Conclusions: Different changes of the choroidal vascular and stromal components characterize the leptochoroid secondary to RPD eyes and high-myopic eyes. The relative greater impairment of the vascular area in RPD eyes in comparison to myopic eyes could be at the basis of the lower development of RPD in patients with high myopia.