[Optical coherence tomography angiography in the diagnosis of retinal microvascular changes in chronic kidney disease (clinical observations)].

One distinctive pathological sign of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is microcirculatory disorders, which mark it as a microvascular disease. Similarity in the blood supply of the retina and kidneys, in the anatomy of their vascularization lead to identical complications in these organs. The retinal-choroidal microvascular system is easily accessible for clinical and morphological assessment and can be examined by the reproducible and non-invasive method - optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA). The study of significant diagnostic tomographic retinal biomarkers in CKD and monitoring of their changes are of great clinical importance. The article presents clinical cases of changes in the retina and choroid depending of the stage of CKD. Retinal microvascular changes precede functional impairment. A significant decrease in retinal and choroidal thickness correlates with a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and the degree of albumin excretion in the urine. All clinical cases were observed to exhibit retinal microcirculation disorders, capillary rarefaction in both capillary plexuses accompanied by a decrease in vessel density and a decrease in the circularity index of the foveal avascular zone as a result of regression of the parafoveal capillary networks. OCTA allowed visualization of morphological changes at the microcirculatory level in the form of blunt ends of capillaries, their increased tortuosity and the presence of local areas of decreased perfusion. The severity of retinal microvascular changes varied depending on the stage of CKD and was not associated with either age or the presence of diabetes mellitus. Assessment of the retinal microvasculature can help with monitoring of microvascular lesions, early prediction of the risk of development and progression of decreased renal function, as well as allow avoiding aggressive diagnostic biopsy.