Reliability of retinal vessel calibre measurements using a retinal oximeter

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Abstract

Background

Summarised retinal vessel diameters are linked to systemic vascular pathology. Monochromatic images provide best contrast to measure vessel calibres. However, when obtaining images with a dual wavelength oximeter the red-free image can be extracted as the green channel information only which in turn will reduce the number of photographs taken at a given time. This will reduce patient exposure to the camera flash and could provide sufficient quality images to reliably measure vessel calibres.

Methods

We obtained retinal images of one eye of 45 healthy participants. Central retinal arteriolar and central retinal venular equivalents (CRAE and CRVE, respectively) were measured using semi-automated software from two monochromatic images: one taken with a red-free filter and one extracted from the green channel of a dual wavelength oximetry image.

Results

Participants were aged between 21 and 62 years, all were normotensive (SBP: 115 (12) mmHg; DBP: 72 (10) mmHg) and had normal intra-ocular pressures (12 (3) mmHg). Bland-Altman analysis revealed good agreement of CRAE and CRVE as obtained from both images (mean bias CRAE = 0.88; CRVE = 2.82).

Conclusions

Summarised retinal vessel calibre measurements obtained from oximetry images are in good agreement to those obtained using red-free photographs.

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Most cited references 19

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Methods for evaluation of retinal microvascular abnormalities associated with hypertension/sclerosis in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

L Hubbard, R Brothers, W King … (1999)

To develop protocols to photograph and evaluate retinal vascular abnormalities in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study; to test reproducibility of the grading system; and to explore the relationship of these microvascular changes with blood pressure. Population-based, cross-sectional study. Among 4 examination centers, 11,114 participants (48-73 years of age) at their third triennial examination, after excluding persons with diabetes from this analysis. One eye of each participant was photographed by technicians with nonmydriatic fundus cameras. Reading center graders evaluated focal arteriolar narrowing, arteriovenous (AV) nicking, and retinopathy by examining slides on a light box and measured diameters of all vessels in a zone surrounding the optic disc on enhanced digitized images. To gauge generalized narrowing, vessel diameters were combined into central arteriolar and venular equivalents with formulas adjusting for branching, and the ratio of equivalents (A/V ratio) was calculated. Retinal vascular abnormalities, mean arteriolar blood pressure (MABP). Among 11,114 participants, photographs were obtained of 99%, with quality sufficient to perform retinal evaluations in 81%. In the 9040 subjects with usable photographs, A/V ratio (lower values indicate generalized arteriolar narrowing) ranged from 0.57 to 1.22 (median = 0.84, interquartile range = 0.10), focal arteriolar narrowing was found in 7%, AV nicking in 6%, and retinopathy in 4%. Because of attrition of subjects and limitation of methods, prevalence of abnormality was likely underestimated. Controlling for gender, race, age, and smoking status, these retinal changes were associated with higher blood pressure. For every 10-mmHg increase in MABP, A/V ratio decreased by 0.02 unit (P < 0.0001), focal arteriolar narrowing had an odds ratio (OR) of 2.00 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.87-2.14), AV nicking had an OR of 1.25 (95% CI = 1.16-1.34), and retinopathy had an OR of 1.25 (95% CI = 1.15-1.37). For any degree of generalized narrowing, individuals with focal narrowing had MABP approximately 8 mmHg higher than those without (P < 0.0001). Masked replicate assessment of a sample found the following reproducibility: for A/V ratio, correlation coefficient = 0.79 and median absolute difference = 0.03; for focal arteriolar narrowing, kappa = 0.45; for AV nicking, kappa = 0.61; and for retinopathy, kappa = 0.89. Protocols have been developed for nonmydriatic fundus photography and for evaluation of retinal vascular abnormalities. Several microvascular changes were significantly associated with higher blood pressure; follow-up will show whether these are predictive of later cerebrovascular or cardiovascular disease independently of other known risk factors.

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Revised formulas for summarizing retinal vessel diameters.

Jae K. Lee, Ronald Klein, Laura L. Hubbard … (2003)

Background/Purpose. Recent findings suggest that an objective assessment of retinal vessel caliber from fundus photographs provide information about the association of microvascular characteristics with macrovascular disease. Current methods used to quantify retinal vessel caliber, introduced by Parr(1,2) and Hubbard,(3) are not independent of scale and are affected by the number of vessels. To improve upon these methods we introduce revised formulas for quantifying vessel caliber. Methods. Revised formulas were estimated using retinal vessel measurements from 44 young adults free of hypertension and diabetes. Comparisons between the two methods were done using digitized photographs from 4926 participants at the baseline examination of the Beaver Dam Eye Study (BDES), an ongoing population-based cohort study initiated in 1987. Individual arterioles and venules were measured using semi-automated computer software from which summary measures were calculated. Results. Correlation coefficients between the Parr-Hubbard and revised formulas were high (Pearson correlation coefficients ranging from 0.94 to 0.98). Both arteriolar and venular caliber significantly increased with an increasing number of vessels measured using the Parr-Hubbard formulas (p 0.50). Conclusions. We describe revised formulas for summarizing retinal vessel diameters measured from fundus photographs to be used in future studies and analyses. The revised formulas correlate highly with the previously used Parr-Hubbard formulas, but offer the advantages of being more robust against variability in the number of vessels observed, being independent of image scale, and being easier to implement.

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Statistical methods for conducting agreement (comparison of clinical tests) and precision (repeatability or reproducibility) studies in optometry and ophthalmology.

Colm McAlinden, Jyoti Khadka, Konrad Pesudovs (2011)

The ever-expanding choice of ocular metrology and imaging equipment has driven research into the validity of their measurements. Consequently, studies of the agreement between two instruments or clinical tests have proliferated in the ophthalmic literature. It is important that researchers apply the appropriate statistical tests in agreement studies. Correlation coefficients are hazardous and should be avoided. The 'limits of agreement' method originally proposed by Altman and Bland in 1983 is the statistical procedure of choice. Its step-by-step use and practical considerations in relation to optometry and ophthalmology are detailed in addition to sample size considerations and statistical approaches to precision (repeatability or reproducibility) estimates. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2011 The College of Optometrists.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Rebekka Heitmar: R.Heitmar1@aston.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Ophthalmol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Ophthalmol

Title: BMC Ophthalmology

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2415

Publication date (Electronic): 24 December 2015

Publication date PMC-release: 24 December 2015

Publication date Collection: 2015

Volume: 15

Electronic Location Identifier: 184

Affiliations

Aston University, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET UK

Article

Publisher ID: 174

DOI: 10.1186/s12886-015-0174-0

PMC ID: 4690418

PubMed ID: 26705024

SO-VID: f4d0bb9f-6088-4aaf-8559-cec6ce7ea3e5

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 20 March 2015

Date accepted : 15 December 2015

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Ophthalmology & Optometry

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Ophthalmology & Optometry

Reliability of retinal vessel calibre measurements using a retinal oximeter

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Abstract

Background

Methods

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Conclusions

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Karger: Ophthalmology

Most cited references 19

Methods for evaluation of retinal microvascular abnormalities associated with hypertension/sclerosis in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Revised formulas for summarizing retinal vessel diameters.

Statistical methods for conducting agreement (comparison of clinical tests) and precision (repeatability or reproducibility) studies in optometry and ophthalmology.

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